Ottawa Market Sunday Sept 16th 2007

There was so much going on at the market that I couldn't get over it. Why, in the middle of September, everything gets hopping is a mystery to me. But here's the proof.

First: we had a Food Network show using the Ottawa Market for its ambiance. Road Grill is a new show, and our episode is to be broadcast in the spring, close to the market's 2008 opening I am told. They had a slick set, and five barbecues and what looked like one main host and two helpers. I loved the way they cordoned off their set with the highway barriers. Clever.

The day started with thick fog. Here's what the crew had already set up when I arrived at 7am. I am sure they were praying for the fog to lift.

And this is the back of the set that I really thought was clever given their road name. And it really works to carve out their space.


This is around 1pm. They are in the midst of taping and I might have been caught on tape walking in the background as I came around to get this shot. I hope I did.

I can't complain if I did get caught on tape.

Before they packed it in they did this "buying an herb" scene for editing purposes when they out their show together. This was the only extra taping I saw done, but they would need more than this one scene to make a show. I'll have to watch the show to see what else they did, and who they caught on camera that I know.

Besides the TV show, we had an extraordinary array of buskers at the market.

This is our semi-regular organ grinder:


And we've had fiddlers before, and violinists too, maybe the word is getting out but these young'uns were at the market on Sunday:


And this guy played his heart out with rebel angry music at the far end of the market where we were set up. Most of the buskers are invited to play and we think he just came and tried it out. I think he did well because we saw him buying an Ethiopian delicacy across from us when he'd finished playing.

Other unusual additions were the popcorn popper guy. I haven't seen him at the market before.

As well as Ray's Reptiles.

The fiddlers, the reptiles and the popcorn were all in the same market quadrant, in and around the picnic tables where visitors can take a load off and put their heavy bags full of root vegetables down and eat a snack. Perhaps they had one of these?

Bonnie, one of the owners of Savoury Pursuits, was set up beside us. I am on a strict diet and had to RESIST ALL DAY LONG Bonnie's fantastic butter tarts! Her pastry is to die for. Look at all this stuff. Alas, look was all I did.

So those were the highlights around the market. My personal highlight was censoring my artwork for the children. I placed this bar over my mermaid's breasts. I was really in a quandary over this! Instead I got a lot of laughs with this manoeuvre. It made me laugh all day and no one complained about the nudity...

And I'll end this post with dog pictures!

Here's Tim's favorite dog. He oohed and aaahed so much when this chocolate lab came into the booth:

And I liked this guy's attitude.

That's all folks.