Katie Fitzjarrald plays guitar during the last Community Farmer’s Market of the season Saturday at the Nolan Center. Fitzjarrald took a more practical approach to the PFD. “I’ll probably put it on my house,” she said.
Barbara Crabtree, right, completes a sale during the last Community Farmer’s Market of the season Saturday at the Nolan Center. Crabtree was selling lace doilies, banana bread and homemade jams, and plans to spend her PFD to pay off a bill.
Shoppers and vendors milled around the last farmer’s market of the year in the Nolan Center Saturday with commerce on their mind.
It seemed like the perfect opportunity to ask them about the annual boost to the economy known as the Permanent Fund Divident, said to be $900 by state officials Sept. 19. That amount is between nine and four times what the average vendor will make at the market in a weekend, planners and vendors said.
It was not enough, apparently, for most people at the market, to do anything more than deposit it safely in their bank account or pay down some debt.
“I’ll probably put it toward student loans,” said Elizabeth Brummett, who was selling bottle cap earrings at the market.
Dolores Klinke, who was selling banana and banana nut breads to raise money for the St. Frances Animal Shelter, was similarly practical.
“I’ll try to pay bills, I imagine,” she said. “What else would I do with $900?”
For some, the PFD is a stepping-stone to their own financial stability. For others at the sixth and final market of the season, the PFD goes to less personal, though no less pressing, issues.
“You could say it’s going to help our daughter become a screenwriter,” said Kris Reed, who sold bead work, quilted items, and baked goods, though most of the baked goods were gone by 11 a.m.
Over the course of the year, most vendors will make between $1,000 and $1,200 dollars, Reed said.
“I think this years has been a bit slower than last year,” she said. “We need somebody to go at marketing full time.”
For at least one vender, the market can be big business. Allie Conner, who said she planned to spend her PFD on bills, said she’s made as much as $6,000 selling sealskin and sea otter clothing, blankets and teddy bears.
Her PFD will be spent in a prudent, one could say boring, fashion.
“That’s what people always say about me,” she said.
Other vendors were focused more on commerce than on the PFD, like Jamie Townsend and Katherine Ivy, who chatted while they sold handmade soaps and fresh vegetable respectively.
“I’ve never once applied for a dividend,” Ivy said. “I’ve been eligible for years, but I just never applied for it.”
At least one person at the market had somewhere tropical on her mind.
“I’m going to Hawaii,” said Becky Rooney. “I’m waiting until we get there to deposit the checks.”
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