Local vendors are rallying behind a new monthly market in Saratoga Springs called Second Sunday at Congress Park.
It’s the second to last Second Sunday Market scheduled this year. Dozens of local vendors are selling items ranging from upcycled clothes and fresh breakfast sandwiches to handmade signs and artwork.
Roots Barber Company owner Jordan Maynard is there to promote his Clifton Park shop in the best way he knows how.
“Yeah so I’d say 99.9% of them are new people that have never been with us before. And I think that’s what makes doing stuff like this effective. There’s always a great turn out here so, we enjoy this. And we do free haircuts and I think that’s what helps bring people in,” said Maynard.
Harrison Griffiths had no plans to get a touch-up but found his way into the chair nonetheless.
“Yeah I mean I’ve been wanting a haircut for a while, and I just saw it and my mom was like, ‘you need—you should get a haircut.’ I was like, “I want a haircut’ too. So, we ended up just getting, I said just said I should get a haircut I mean school just started up so yeah,” said Griffiths.
David Kramer is running the next booth down, Middle Kid Vintage, where potential customers are combing through a selection of graphic tees, sweaters, and hats.
“For us, we enjoy the hunt of it all. Going to estate sales, the bins, the racks, just hunting for it and finding your grandma’s clothes, your grandpa’s clothes, you know. I’ve said it a couple of times, it’s like that Macklemore song, you know, your grandpa’s hand-me-downs we want those, that’s what we sell, that’s what we like to wear,” said Kramer.
Around the bend, Joel Rabina is selling handcrafted jewelry and accessories. His booth is lined with crystal necklaces, earrings made from recycled surfboards and resin, and the most eye-catching piece: a tie made entirely from chainmail.
“So, I started to go online researching chainmail ties, and if anything you can find pictures of other people who have made chainmail ties, and in my honest opinion I just didn’t like the way looked. I’m like, ‘good for them, that looks fine for them,’ but I’m like, ‘you know, I think I can do one better.’ And so, I started to experiment when it came to what’s called the weave or the chainmail weaving. And I was like, ‘you know what, let me see what I can do,’ and that’s when this was born,” said Rabina.
Of course, Rabina came to Second Sunday to sell his wares, but:
“I just love what I do. So, it’s like if I come here and I didn’t have a sale I wouldn’t mind that because if anything I love talking to people, I love talking to people. I love telling them about my work especially when they’re asking about it, I’m like, ‘oh yeah I love telling my story,’” said Rabina.
For Second Sunday co-founders Mariah Singleton and Noah Chani, a bustling market after the summer tourism boom has come and gone is more than they could’ve asked for.
“I personally do pop-ups every weekend and then Noah is in the vintage scene so he knows a lot of people in that world. So, we put the things we know together and it made this,” said Singleton.
“We had a brain baby and it became Second Sunday,” said Chani.
Singleton adds Second Sunday is a market by and for locals she credits with “holding it down” when things seemed uncertain earlier in the summer.
“We were more hoping it would be a community-based event for the people that live here. So, if the track people come that’s amazing, that’s bonus, but this is for the people that are here,” said Singelton.
Skidmore College student and Albany native Fiona Lacey is holding a lamp that looks like one of the gnomes from Sleeping Beauty.
“I just bought this beautiful little gnome lamp. I’m really excited because we have a storybook wall in our apartment with pages from Berenstain Bears, The Paper Bag Princess, other childhood favorites and I think he’ll fit right in,” said Lacey.
She still has a few more booths to check out, but Lacey is excited to take the gnome back to campus.
“Yeah I’m ready to give him a new life, make him be his own person and find himself in a really helpful environment where he can learn and grow,’ said Lacey.
The last scheduled Second Sunday is October 13th.
