Some great tips for helping you successfully manage your finances.

Friday, March 12, 2010, 7:30 evening
Sunday, March 14, 2010, 2.30 matinee at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts.
Read more, order tickets at EugeneOpera.com

Start Time: 19:30:00
Date: 2010-03-12

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"What do we do with the Christmas tree now, Charlie Brown?"

With the Holidays now behind us, disposing of the resulting trash can be a bit problematic. All those boxes, all that paper and packaging material can cause your co-mingle recycle can to overflow for the next month, but it’s do-able. The tree, however, has to be cut up into much smaller chunks to fit into your yard waste bin, and how many of us here in Eugene or Springfield keep a saw lying around?

Here are a few tips for dealing with your Holiday fir:

Make a Donation

Fortunately, for a few dollars donation, there are many groups in Lane County willing to help you solve your post-Christmas trash problems. And with donations down as much as 90%, the fund-raising efforts of these groups are even more vital.

• Boy Scouts — local council office: 485.4433
• Girl Scouts — local office: 485-5911
• Fire Departments — Eugene: 682-7100, Springfield: 726-3737‎
• Church Youth Groups — contact your favorite church
• Student Groups — contact your nearest school

Mulch or Compost It

If you (or your neighbor) have a garden with a compost pile, and a pair of long handle loppers or heavy duty pruning shears, you can trim off the branches of your tree yourself. Clipped into smaller pieces they can be turned into the compost pile, and used to enrich that garden soil.

Haul it off yourself

Of course, you can always pack up your tree and take it yourself to a number of facilities in the area for a fee. Here are some that accept Christmas trees and their fees for doing so:

• Lane Forest Products — $1 and $2
• Lane County Waste Transfer Station — $9 (basic trash fee)
• Rexius — $1 and $2

Give it to the USACE

Often the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers accepts Christmas trees to use as fish nests and nurseries in lakes and hatcheries. For details, you can contact the Willamette Valley office in Lowell: 541-937-2131.

The Practical Rabbit offers a variety of unique clothing at Eugene's Holiday Market, uncluding hemp underwear.

It would not be Eugene’s Holiday Market without tie-dye, live music, and a plethora of local artists and craftspeople selling everything from wooden flutes to hemp underwear.  Throw in a gift wrapping service benefiting a local nonprofit, and all the pieces are in place for a genuine representation of Eugene at its best.

If you are new to Eugene, there are a handful of flagship events and gatherings where we rooted citizens come out of the woodwork and show our true colors.  The Saturday Market’s thriving popularity never seems to dwindle as years pass, but shuts down for our rainy season.  Known for its drum circles, a variety of live music (we are talking everything from washboards to violas), international and organic cuisine booths, and loads of crafty things for sale, the Market invades downtown every Saturday.  Oak Street and 8^th Avenue overflow with college kids, peaceful protesters and activists, families, artists, and yes, the Hippies, from all over the area.  A passer-by with dreadlocks draped to his hips crosses paths with the well-manicured business man on his lunch break, while a group of Chinese exchange students enjoy an Ethiopian dish on the lawn: all in harmonious coexistence at Eugene’s unique weekly gathering.  The Holiday Market serves as both an indoor, wintertime revitalization of the Saturday Market and a refreshing alternative to the mall for everyone on your gift list.  If you drive instead of riding your bike or taking a bus, parking is easy and free at the Fairgrounds, located on West 13^th Ave and Jefferson.  Such is not the case at the Saturday Market, where parking is scarce and metered.

In Eugene, tie-dye never gets old.

If you are new to Eugene, you will soon discover that many of us prefer this open-air (albeit indoors), grassrootsy, eclectic atmosphere to the sterile, mainstream corporate mall (“corporate” tends to be a bad word in these parts).  Just people-watching at the Holiday Market can give anyone a taste of Emerald City values.  Regardless of where you like to shop and what you like to buy, it is difficult to visit the market and do nothing but people-watch.  As you meander from booth to booth, something is bound to catch your eye—or nose or ears—and bringing a budgeted amount of cash is not a bad idea to satiate that must-have impulse.  If the flamboyant tie-dye collection does not appeal to you, perhaps handmade jewelry is your weakness.  Or maybe you’ll fall for locally crafted purses, clothes, soaps, lotions, knits, hats, baby toys, pottery, stoneware for the kitchen, yard or bath, metal sculpture, wind-chimes, tiles, paintings of all genres, price ranges and sizes, photographic art from around the world—the list of merchants goes on and on (and is online at www.holidaymarket.org).  If you do not purchase anything, you will at least leave bedazzled.

Pottery and stoneware are a hit at the market, like these pieces for sale by Linda Williams.

If you do buy something, however, it is a bonus to be able to meet the artist who made your items.  The artists that rent booths here make what you see, and getting to know them sheds light on the uniqueness of their goods and the community in which they thrive.  Linda Williams, for example, has participated as a merchant in the market on and off for about fifteen years.  She brings her stoneware, pots and vases, and reflects on years past: “It doesn’t change much.  The music changes, but this year it’s good,” she laughs.  Micki Shampang-Voories of Blue River, on the other hand, says of this year’s market: “It’s awesome.  The artists here create togetherness, a sense of community support,” she explains when asked if vendors feel they compete with their neighboring booths.  Micki makes décor and sculptures out of tool parts and steel—her business card features an image of a metal stiletto with a drill bit for a heel—and participates in about twenty-five other art shows throughout the year.

Micki Shampang-Voories sits at her booth of unique decor for sale.

Let’s say you buy Micki’s signature stiletto.  How in the name of Masoli does one go about gift wrapping that thing?  No need to worry: there’s a good cause to benefit while you are here.  Womenspace, a successful and well-admired nonprofit providing emergency shelter to battered women and their children, will gift wrap your purchases for you onsite.  Proceeds help local victims of domestic violence, and your new, beloved drill-bit shoes are unassumingly disguised as a normal gift for that special someone.  The Womenspace table is located on the west side of the building, which faces the parking lot.

The market offers lots of activities to keep the kids busy, including some toy-testing opportunities.

If ogling at all the goods results in sensory overload, you may opt to take a breather in the central area where picnic benches divide the two rows of food booths. Here also we have the main stage where a list of bands and musicians delight in the exposure.  This is an opportunity to witness Eugene’s lackadaisical personality. Children gallivant relatively freely in this space; terribly uncoordinated, although charmingly carefree couples and individuals dance in front of the stage (a common ritual at our markets and celebrations); strangers share the communal eating space where striking up new conversations is hardly unordinary.  If you’ve worked up an appetite, do give the food a try.  If you are unsure of a dish, ask the person next to you.

If you missed it on your way in, take a second on your way out to decompress in the Holiday Hall, which is a separate, smaller room featuring yet more merchants and musicians in a lower-key atmosphere.  The Holiday Hall is tucked in the southwestern corner of the building.  As you leave, you will likely encounter the solo musicians who come and go in the halls and outside the main doors.  A lone saxophone player wails into a terribly frosty December afternoon turning evening.  Just inside the door, a boy, probably twelve, thrashes his bow across a violin with the case at his feet, a few dollar bills crinkled up inside.  As you walk back to your car (or bicycle), the music sounds like credits rolling after a movie.  You start to miss it already, and you may have to come back tomorrow.  Besides, it’s free.

Visit the Holiday Market to find something for everyone on your gift list.

Visit the Holiday Market weekends before Christmas from 10am – 6pm, or Tuesday the 22^nd – Christmas Eve.  The Market closes down on the 24^th at 2pm.  For more information check out http://www.holidaymarket.org.

Written by Lauren Zavrel for DiscoverEugene.com

Photos by Lauren Zavrel