Iowa Girl on the Go

Today’s East Village Sunday Bazaar was both the last bazaar of the season and the site of a Halloween dog parade. I have to admit I enjoyed the dogs the most.

The temperature was perfectly nice this afternoon — cool and sunny. But it was also very windy, and that made outdoor vendors scramble to batten down the hatches, so to speak. Displays were crashing down, textiles were weighted with heavy objects, plants were dumping over.

The event, held on Sunday afternoons in September and October, reminds me a lot of Market Day held once a month on Saturday mornings in downtown Des Moines. The main difference is that one is indoors and one is outside. The vendors seem similar. Today there were vendors selling antiques and vintage finds, jewelry, knitted hats, scarves, bags made from rice sacks in Cambodia, journals made from old books, furniture, and the like. My daughter bought a scarf; I was tempted by some of the jewelry and really liked the rice bags (pictured) — but I already have too many bags.

I was hoping for food vendors and maybe a bit of live music, but none was to be had. Some of the East Village shops and restaurants were open, but not all.

The surprise of the day was the dog parade — dogs dressed in their Halloween best with their people handing out candy and other treats to onlookers. I scored a fine plastic spider ring, a purple plastic necklace, and a handful of candy that I gave to Katie.

Dogs were dressed as hotdogs, bears, insects, dinosaurs, ballerinas, cowboys, and Santa Claus. A few, apparently too dignified (or too large) for such nonsense wore bandannas around their necks or no costumes at all.