Christmas is in the air. Whichever store you go to, the music makes you hum along “All I want for Christmas is you.” Union Square is crowded: its numerous stores attract hundreds of customers. Starting November 16, the Union Square Holiday Market adds to it. Bright red and white tents form rows and rows of the selling spots with future Christmas presents. The market seems to be a perfect add-on to the Square reflecting the overall holiday mood of the New Yorkers, but it only seems so. To a number of people this market took over the space where they spent their free time. Skaters, bikers, soccer players were forced to relocate.
The Union Square Holiday Market is run by “Urban Space”, a huge organization founded in 1978, active not only in the U.S., but also in Great Britain. In order to become a vendor, you have to sell something unique and creative. Urban Space helped to develop such businesses as “Body Shop” and a British designer “Red or Dead.”
While walking around the market, it is impossible to pass the picturesque Turkish tent with a number of ceramics, tiles, plates, cups, lamps, and rugs etc. This section of the market is so bright and unusual, that even if you are not into Mediterranean stuff, it is hard to walk by without stopping. Alphan Atila, one of the owners of this family business, says they have been selling their products in the Holiday Market on Union Square for ten years already. They also have a tent in a Columbus Circle market (which is also run by Urban Space) and they used to be a part of the holiday market next to WTC.
Mr. Atila says that the representatives of “Urban Space” have called him for ten years asking if he wants to participate in the fair and he never said “no”: “It is a very good promotion for our web-site. They can see the products and we can sell them. The soul loves bright colors, people are attracted to them. Before we used to do the online wholesale, but this market made us look at our products as at gift items.” Mr. Atila says that the main customers are American, European, and Brazilian women who love the authentic Turkish craft.
Another tent with such unusual goods the glassblowers tent. The shelves are covered with strange creatures made of glass. Here and there familiar beer or vodka bottles are transformed into a vase, glass or a candle holder. Mark Sunrise, the artist, says that he has been participating in this market for five years already and he will do the same next year. He works in Massachusetts and brings his work in NYC where it is being sold mostly to tourists.
Sanya Breznikar, one of the customers of the Union Square Holiday Market says: “I love the market on Union Square. Christmas is coming and we all want to give interesting presents. I bought socks with shina inu (breed of a dog) on them. One pair was 25 bucks! I cant believe it! But it is still worth it, because this is the dog that is waiting for me at home and at least once a year you can splurge like that.”
Still, not everyone is happy with the pre-holiday Union Square transformation. Tyriq Holloway and his friends were forced out by the holiday market: “Old-school skateboarding started at Tompkins and my generation migrated to Union to skate the stairs, there is a rail and ramps, there are people, you can talk to people, and now with the market we are back at Tompkins skating. Now, there are twice the number of people in Tompkins;. There is just flat ground. You cant really like skate off the stairs and practice to the highest extent, so we are stuck at Tompkins until this market is done. And I don’t even know how long its gonna take. It will probably take forever. At least Union looks better than before. There were a lot of homeless people. One time I almost got my camera stolen. Now you can’t sit down and you can’t hang around. But you can shop and spend money like everyone else.”
“BMXers” or the bikers go to the skate park near the bridge for the time being.
Tyriq says that sometimes they skate in the back of Union Square, though there are no obstacles or ramps, just flat ground, he adds “it’s boring, but better than nothing. No one can bother us.”
One of Tyriq’s friends, John, is mad about the market. Tyriq says: “He is a little upset about the whole thing. He just started, so, for him, the only place to practice is Union.”
Not all the regulars are unhappy. Justin, one of the chess players who plays chess for money right on Union square, says the market did not affect him negatively He is still there, now on a curb of the market, which attracts more people, so that he gets more business as well.
The market will stay there for a little more than a week. Skaters and the bikers, annoyed at being displaced, will have to wait. Thankfully, Christmas is only once a year.
Interesting story. I go to the Holiday Market every year and I never thought that some people might be bothered it. Was there anyone else you were able to talk to besides skaters that were bothered?
Do publish your story. Very nice reporting!
Really great article. I know many people that are bothered by the market so it is interesting to hear their voices through an article.
Nice writing. I actually ended up visiting the market when I was around that area because I remembered your article.
Yeah, Veronica, I spoke to chess players and I mentioned one of them in the story. I also spoke to BMXers, but did not take anything interesting out of the interview, so I decided to leave this one behind.