After breakfast at Goldie’s Breakfast Cafe I decided to make my way over to the Capital City Public Market. Personally public markets typically are one of my favorite things to do in new city. These sort of markets give you a good feel about the city and what is important to it. It gives you unique access to the city as the markets bring together the community members, businesses, and tourists and allow you to get a feel of what this city has to offer. One of my favorite things about this type of market is that it gives people ready access to foods that they would not normally seek out which really greats great opportunities for local businesses.
The Boise Capital City Public Market started in 1994 as a Saturday farmers market in downtown Boise consisting of 10 vendors. Currently, it consists of over 130 vendors and features more than just produce; the market consists of a wide range of produce, art foods, wines, and other local handcrafts. The market is open on Saturdays from 9:30 am to 1:30 am and during the holiday season it stays open an extra hour. The market is a great way to get outside and spend an early morning/late afternoon and explore the best of what Idaho has to offer.
The Market seemed like it was the place to be on Saturday afternoon as several city blocks were jam packed with booths, people, and their pets. I wandered for well over an hour going from booth to booth stopping at several notable booths to look at the art they had on display. Some of my favorites that I saw were adorable illustrations that I knew Stephanie would love at Paper Lion Art, the blown glass (something I have been obsessed with) of http://www.boiseartglass.com/, Chimney Cakes (which are something that are super common in Prague), Belts by Michael Stewart which I bought an extremely nice (and needed) leather belt for $18.
As it was halloween many of the vendors had Halloween related items for sale including blown glass ghosts! There was also a pumpkin carving contest were I voted for my favorite of several elaborately carved pumpkins.