The Farmer's Market

This is my social map of the local farmer's market. the concentric circles are used to show the concentration of people in certain areas and how that amount of people decreases. the music notes show where the music is in relation to the stands. the color of the stands show what kind of people were there: yellow is for everyone, green is for children and red is for women.

 

 

unlike your average store the Farmer's market seemed alive there was more than just food there was interaction. the people went there yes to get food but more so to interact with the vendors and listen to music. The farmer's market is a great example of DIY (Do It Yourself). The farmer who grows the produce is the person who sells it. this system realizes on social interaction making the farmer's market very important to their lively hood. Also there were basket weaver and jewelry makers there to do the same.
there was live music every where at the end of the rows and around most of the food. for the most part it was folk music but near the entrance there was west African drumming and dancing. the dancer invited people to dance and even to play drums this was very popular among children. Both pictures are images of presentational music because there was a clear audience and clear artists even if they did encourage participation. Also the expectation is for the audience to watch and for the artist to preform it is not expected for anyone else to grab an instrument and join in.

 

 

Next to City Hall was the Arts and Crafts section for the most part there was mostly women and children there but there was probably a lot of children there because they were playing in the fountain. also I noticed that parents were more relaxed at the farmers market with their children they seemed to trust the people there more than a random stranger at the average super store. I went into City Hall to see what was going on in there and all I basically found was people going to the bathroom and ATM . which was interesting because that's where the people of the city meet but instead they chose to socialize outside.

 

 

In the very back of the farmer's market the was a man running for sheriff and meeting people. I found this placement interesting because it seemed as though the political campaign was thought of as the least important thing at the farmer's market. The placement suggest that people do not go to the farmer's market to deal with politics but to have a good time. also there was information about the community in that general area I actually talked to Brent Gault, chair of music education at Indiana University, it was a surprise because he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans talking about the IU children's choir. I approached the table because I was in the Indianapolis Childen's Choir briefly and was interested in if it was similar to that program and if he was familiar with it. he was and he actually told me a lot of  information about the IU Children's Choir and the Jacobs School of Music.

The people at the farmer's market were very diverse in different ways. I saw several different races, religions, sects and portrayals of ideas through the way people were dressed. The farmers market was very interesting and I plan to go back several times. It is a center for  music, socializing with the community and invited diversity of all kinds.

 

Photo credit: Aliya Lewis