Buffalo Rising Online

Apr 13th, 12:17pm By queenseyes

After experiencing the Buffalo Indie Market I have to say that I have one major problem with it. The problem? It's not every Saturday, just the second Saturday of every month (UPDATE: It has switched to Sundays for the remaining markets throughout the spring/summer). But maybe that will, one day, change. When we walked into the Pearl Street Brew Pub yesterday (around 1pm) we found the first floor packed with people eating lunch (and that's a big place). When we reached the Indie Market at the top of the stairs, we were amazed to see artist Trisha Wilson (Buffalo Plaid Pottery of Orchard Park) working away at her pottery wheel. This was a totally unexpected find. We had not really expected this sort of performance art. We also didn't expect to see the market so well attended on its first day ever.

The layout of the artist arena was brilliant. There was a natural flow that led people around the room so that all of the tables were easily seen. About midway through the show a server was handing out Pearl Street beers and dishes (through a cutout in the wall that led to the adjacent bar) to people who would take them back to their tables or sit in the adjoining room. We spoke to one of the artists who was absolutely thrilled with the pub and said that she couldn't wait until all of the outdoor patios were opened. While we walked around we enjoyed the sounds emanating from Tone X's (Deep Thinka) turntables... the urban beat was good to hear and kept people (especially the kids) in a boisterous mood. About an hour after we arrived we were treated to a live rap performance by Edreys Wajed who incorporated a good deal of improv into his show. There was a wide range of age groups at the affair... this Indie Market is exactly what downtown needs more of.

The handmade goods that we saw were really well done. I purchased a neck-warmer from Lisa McCausland (Petit Fleur Handcrafted Designs of Wilson, NY), which will come in handy next year at Dug's Dive winter activities. And after we were done checking out all of the tables, we adjourned to the bar where we could still see all of the activity and listen to Edreys rap. We ordered a couple of beers, talked about the show, caught part of a hockey game on TV and decided that this was one of the greatest ideas of all time. It was like being at the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts... in a brew pub! I guess we'll have to wait a month to catch the next one. In the meantime we're talking to Pear Street about hosting a Skate Plaza fundraiser. After seeing the enormous success of the Indie Market I would hope that the Skate Plaza fundraiser would be able to tag along to a future Indie Sundays (it has switched to Sundays for the remaining markets throughout the spring/summer)... to add to the activity... but more on that later.

I can picture a scene next year where the Skate Plaza is in full swing, the Indie Market is jumping, CanalSide is partially operational, the Tower Shoreline Beach is open, and a Bison's baseball game is being played. That sounds like a pretty good day to me. Congratulations to Mary Stephens, Director of the Indie Market, who outdid herself with this monthly showcase of local artisans. Not only does it support the artists, it supports a homegrown business and draws artists and fans from all over WNY to the downtown area.