Marketplace Just Keeps On Happening

Here’s a one-question fill-in-the-blank quiz. It’s multiple choice.

The Spokane MarketPlace is an idea too ( ) to die.

a.) good.

b.) stubborn.

c.) absurd.

d.) optimistic.

e.) naive.

f.) beloved.

g.) resilient.

h.) irresistible.

The correct answer is, well, who’s to say? To tell the truth, the only thing that’s clear is that it just won’t stay dead.

Now in seemingly its 40th incarnation, the modest assemblage of produce stands and crafts vendors recently began its latest run on the nondescript block of Jefferson between First and Sprague downtown. And on Sunday afternoon, a small but diverse crowd checked out cherries and handmade jewelry while the Caribbean Super Stars steel drum band made it at least sound like a happening.

If you visited the MarketPlace in its previous location, at the edge of Riverfront Park, a few things would have seemed familiar. The same guy cooking sausages. The same woman folding balloons. The same uneasy sense that it’s not going to make it.

But who knows. Maybe it will. Maybe the right assortment of attractions will be added to the lineup and the crowds will swell.

And then victory can be declared. Because, as everyone knows, other people - lots of them - are as important to the market’s success as great tomatoes.

The urge to see and be seen is always there. People just need a place to do it.

The Marketplace will never lure throngs like a Wal-Mart grand opening. But there are those in Spokane who want a different experience. They want to be reminded that they live in a city. And they want to get out of their cars and see who else lives here.

So for the Spokane Marketplace, the stage is set. This time it’s make-or-break.

Sunday afternoon, church bells blended with the sound of passing trains and fire-truck sirens. And the steel drum band played on.

“Never heard this kind of music before,” said an elderly man in a suit. “I kind of like it.”

Two guys in their 20s stood next to the Jalapeno Jeaven stand and watched with great interest as a pair of attractive women in jeans and T-shirts slowly roller-skated past.

The guys gave each other a look.

It was a look that said the Spokane MarketPlace had just made a couple of friends.

, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that visits Inland Northwest gatherings.