The market is housed in a 1912 building, a massive arched yellow-brick with an interior concourse, an unheated covered outdoor arcade, and a large clock tower. It is its own city across the river from the city, in the City of Ohio. First-time visitors mistake it for an old railroad station, but that is across Lorain in eighties modern. Large black back-braced letters atop the south wall W E S T S I D E M A R K E T reflect a different era and anchor the 25th Street storefronts which purvey complementary goods.
Yesterday the market teemed with buyers and sellers of roots, fruits, meats, milks, and breads. Cold rain and snow kept the hand-cart-pulling seniors at home, but left them with only one day left, Wednesday, to stock the pantry with holiday ingredients. Students home on holiday break continued traditional family excursions with their folks in tow, as excited as the 5th graders who gathered in the fish stall to start a scavenger hunt.
The hunters arrived in a small bus with parents and teachers, and quickly divided up into teams of three or four. Their goal is simple: the first team to complete the price blanks on their mimeographed sheet wins, the prize a piece of any creation from the bakery stall, all selections there delightfully decorated for the eye and decadent for the soul. Perfect.
Their list: one rutabaga, three roses, one bohemian rye bread, one blueberry pierogi, one serving of saffron pasta, ten sea scallops, two pints of fresh sour cream, six honeycrisp apples, four avocados, one bunch of rosemary, two soft pretzels, one bottle of sri-racha, one box decaffeinated tea, one 10 pound fresh turkey, one lamb tongue, fifteen large shrimp 1/2 pound chicken feet, one pint anchovy-stuffed olives. The teams scattered as their teacher gave the go. They had one hour.
One group stayed in the fish stall at the urging of a girl with black hair and a knit cap. "Wait, wait" she yelled as her comrades started after the other teams. "Wait, we can find some right here"...she had read the entire list and quickly organized the team into pairs. One hunted bread, two jumped into the arcade for vegetable, one searched dairy, and one meat and fish. The girl had them all plan to meet at the fish stall in a half hour, at which time any item unfound or incorrectly priced was easily chased down by the entire group, following the discovery of likely targets by the pairs and the lead of the black-haired girl. Winning hands-down, they enjoyed the slices of lemon pie, chocolate thunder cake, elairs, and caramel drizzle while the other teams, either scattered individually or wandering along as a group, leaderless, missed the confections.