Business as usual at Saturday Market.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

America is in the grips of a controversial war. It's April and it just snowed in the Coburg Hills.

But Eugene, so far, is still Eugene.

If you had any doubt all you had to do was head down to the year's first Saturday Market and catch a whiff of the exotic cuisine as it mixed in the air with the scent of burning marijuana and other herbal essences.

Or watch the long-haired, middle-age man in the Tarzan-like leopard-skin outfit walk a tightrope while twirling a tiny pink umbrella.

Or eat at the Tofu Palace; feel a Burmese python; listen to some hot jazz and gypsy swing.

Fear not, the rest of the world might be going to heck in a handbasket, but Eugene, most assuredly, is still Eugene.

And many who packed the sidewalks and the booths around Eighth Avenue and Oak Street on Saturday found a certain comfort in the opening of the 34th market - especially in these uncertain times.

"My sense is that the market is needed more than ever," said Beth Little, the market's manager. "And I want everyone, no matter their walk of life, to feel welcome here."

The market runs weekly from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the third Saturday in November. And on opening day, some 285 vendors set up shop, even though it rained off and on throughout most of the day. And it was fight-your-way-through crowded.

Jimmy Manigrossi, 50, of Eugene, who was making dog tags at his booth with his 15-year-old daughter, Sierra, said it was reassuring, in this time of war, to come back to the market, as he and his daughter have been doing since she was born. But it's not really anything new, he said. After all, America was deep into the Vietnam War when the market made its debut in 1970, he said.

"A lot of people here have been through other wars," he said. "They've been through all of this before. But we've got a pretty peaceful place to live here."

A few booths back, Rick Tingle was selling his tie-dyed T-Shirts and assortment of hats.

"Your tie-dyes are looking sweet," said a young woman, as she passed by his booth. "Oh, thanks," Tingle, 48, shot back.

The Eugene resident has been selling his homemade goods at the market for about six years. The hemp-made hats range from baseball caps to hats with, well, a lot of space for that certain someone who has an abundant load of dreadlocks.

"The market means a lot," said Tingle, who was wearing his own patchwork-style "dread" hat. "It's good that people come out and keep on with their daily lives even though the world is going bananas. It's a nice Oregon day. Springtime. Can't really wait for sunshine."

But just about everything under the sun that is Eugene was here:

Homemade candles. Homemade purses. Hand-crafted this. Hand-crafted that. Barbaric pottery and "bent, twisted and hammered" things. A chair massage. Tie-dyed pajamas. Tie-dyed outfits for the kids. Hemp nut milkshakes.

Psychic readings and street musicians and the Rev. Chumleigh.

Remember the guy with the little pink umbrella? The one in the Tarzan-like leopard skin? Yep, that's the reverend. Also known as 50-year-old Michael Mielnik of Camano Island, Wash., he first performed at the market in 1973 as the "Flaming zucchini - fire-eater extraordinaire."

On Saturday, he was back with his pet Burmese python, Bella, around his neck. He wore a colorful Hawaiian shirt and his long, brown locks with the tinge of gray bounced with him as he told jokes and performed his act - "Escapist humor for these perilous times."

More than 100 market-goers crowded around the market's stage to watch and listen to the reverend, who was definitely the hit of the day.

"I still do this market out of old-time sake," he said after his one-hour performance. "I don't want to enable Eugeneans, but they're so cute and mellow and it is a relief to come back here. Eugeneans are very benign, well-meaning and trusting. And they don't wear deodorant."

A man with a long, gray beard, who was wearing a state-of-the-art bicycle helmet, concurred: "It's toxic, anyway."

CAPTION(S):

A mirror reflects a patron at the opening of Eugene's downtown Saturday Market, where the weather was cold and damp but the crowds came anyway. Brian Davies / The Register-Guard Brian Davies / The Register-Guard The Rev. Chumleigh of Camano Island, Wash., performs what he calls "escapist humor for these perilous times." "My sense is that the market is needed more than ever." BETH LITTLE SATURDAY MARKET MANAGER