PORTLAND FLEA + FOOD

I don’t know why it’s taken me a couple months to make it  here, but I finally got there.

I finally checked it out this weekend, and let me tell you — it’s a hoot.

Here’s the lowdown.

On the last Sunday of each month, a number of food trucks and vendors  (food, vintage and artisanal) take over a couple lots adjacent to Rejuvenation off on Grand and set up camp.

The hours for this once-monthly event are just 11-4, but you can check out everything in well under an hour — including stuffing yourself silly with some premium grub.

Let’s start with the food.

Quite a few of my favorites are here — Bunk, Pip’s Donuts,  and PDX Sliders to name a few (with a few more I’ve yet to try).

There are also some selling packaged food, too, and I like the indy-feeling of it; food craftspeople selling their own wares and talking about why they love their product so much.

It’s small scale and all heart. Like Portland.

Everyone here was having a good time — buying cocktails to go, tasting various foods like Curried Popcorn and Homemade Bitters and cooked-to-order donuts, and window shopping for vintage housewares.

The vibe was so chill and friendly.

All the customers were excited just to window shop in the sun, and the vendors were friendly and chatty, and it was cute to see that one had even made a batch of cookies and was letting just anyone come up and have one.

All the sales had such a personal connection.

Because there was a strong retro vibe going on, there was lots of fun street fashion to check out.

There were plenty of interesting clothes and shoes on display.

This woman and I walked into a little portable trailer and checked out all kinds of random goodness — vases, clothes, vintage housewares, scarves.

I also saw ten gals dressed just in white and they all looked so cute and chic.

I’m a huge Converse fan so this look on the left was a home run for me.

All totalled, there were around forty booths of vintage and collectibles.

On one side of the street, the vendors featured mostly clothes and accessories

and the other side of the street there were mostly housewares, toys and garden.

This was the side that abutted the back entrance to Rejuvenation Hardware (inside of which I think there was more going on but I didn’t have the time to check it out).

In this section there were two vendors I particularly loved.

One was located in an old van — and the stuff offered there was adorable: vintage plaid blankets, old berry baskets and holders, Thermoses and more.

I mean, c’mon.

Look at the handwritten sign.

Who says “making out” anymore?

The other vendor I loved had all kinds of random stuff —  jewelry pieces, vintage household and ephemera.

If you see any of these labels, you know you’re in the right place.

I talked to the woman who was running this booth and she was fascinating — she used to be a theatre set designer and her partner-in-crime was a window dresser for Macy’s N.Y.

I loved the items they were selling — and the fact that I overheard her taking five minutes out to give a young girl a mini lesson on Russian nesting dolls and how to tell their age based on certain design elements.

She also had lots of doll house items and vintage tea sets and the like

but it was her Ohio Art pieces and Swedish enamelware that had me swooning — and reaching for my wallet.

If that rack looks empty it’s because I grabbed a number of things off of it.

I ended up buying all these enamelware pieces.

Yes, I realize that I need them like I need a hole in my head but I loved them all so much and I found myself daydreaming in her little tent about all of the possibilities here.

Picnics.

Cocktail parties.

Charlotte hosting a party on the front lawn for her friends.

You know the kind of get-together — with blackberry lemonade and cookies and fruit and cute scalloped napkins.

Life is short — why not make myself happy?

As if life post-Food and Flea wasn’t good enough, I hit New Seasons for a little lunch.

I loved their sign so much I wanted to walk out with it.

I bought some berries.

I would have bought these currants too had I known what I was going to do with them.

But I had nothing.

Suggestions?

While shopping, I also found some of this salad to enjoy at home.

I bought enough to share with hubby —  and it was delicious with the addition of grilled shaved corn and roasted potatoes from the previous night’s dinner.

(New Seasons usually does SUCH a good job with their salads.)

So, back to Portland Food + Flea.

Check it out next month if you can — you’ll probably find me there too, balancing a cocktail, a slider and yet another purchased picnic blanket.