Music, which may have charms to soothe the savage breast as the poet said, also may increase sales at the Durango Farmers Market.
Evidence is anecdotal, but it’s the impression of vendors that sales increase when there’s music, said market manager Carolyn Blehm.
“The musicians are a huge draw,” Blehm said. “It creates a friendly, fun, family atmosphere. Customers spend more time at the market and may end up spending more.”
Vendors, indeed, tune in to who’s behind the microphone, said Stephen Sellers, himself a musician, who was hired this year to coordinate a rotation of gigs and set up sound equipment on Saturday market days.
“They’ll let you know if they like someone or not,” Sellers said. “When they do, they tell me, ‘Hey, you got to get that one back.’”
Seven to 10 groups rotate June through September, said Sellers, who jokingly characterized himself as their booking agent and sound man.
In May, before agricultural production hits its stride, and in October as the harvest tails off, it’s more catch as catch can, he said. Performers have to provide sound equipment.
Michael Schwebach, the Farmers Market board president, isn’t sure if music increases sales, but it’s a welcome diversion.
“Visitors enjoy the music,” Schwebach said. “It’s been good for the Farmers Market.”
As for the performers, the event allows them to ply their craft, get some public exposure and perhaps sell their CDs.
In earlier years, the musicians were paid with gift coupons from market merchants, but that practice has been dropped, said Blehm.
The Saturday market, 8 a.m. to noon, is now in its 17th year. Vendors set up tented booths in the parking lot of the First National Bank of Durango between east Eighth and Ninth streets along Narrow Gauge Avenue. The bank makes the space available free of charge.
Sellers, who got a bass guitar at age 12, plays guitar, banjo and sings. He performs with the Six Dollar String Band.
Pete Giuliani, who plays guitar and sings, has made two appearances per summer for about 10 years. Twice a summer is enough, he said, because he teaches guitar and voice in a home studio and has the Pete Giuliani Band, which plays around the Four Corners.
“I’m busy, so sometimes I think the Farmers Market is too much,” he said. “But it’s fun, it’s social exposure and it gives musicians a chance to get heard in front of the public.”
The tips are generous, Giuliani said.
Annie Brooks plays acoustic guitar, dabbles in other instruments for fun and sings. She has three CDs out and an earlier one that she said doesn’t count.
“I play what some people call folk rock,” Brooks said. “I perform in-house concerts, I’m at the Durango Coffee Co. on Tuesdays, and I’ve toured in Europe.”
A little French rubbed off on her, as evidenced by her rendition of “La Vie en Rose” at the Farmers Market a few weeks ago.
Music is a sideline for Brooks, who derives her main income from a wedding photography business she and her husband operate.
Amanda Sellers (Stephen Sellers’ wife) and Daena Roberts, who performed with a band that broke up, joined forces this summer to play at the Farmers Market. They sing harmony as well as play – Roberts on violin and guitar and Sellers on guitar.
“It’s the only place the two of us have played together, but we’ve been asked to play at special events this fall,” Roberts said.
Roberts, from Monterey, Calif., sang in a church choir as early as first grade and took up violin in seventh grade.
“I picked up guitar three or four years ago,” Roberts said. “I was surprised how quickly I learned.”
Amanda Sellers, from Amarillo, Texas, comes from a musical family.
“I have a brother who earns his living as a full-time musician,” Sellers said.`
She works during the week at Big Brothers Big Sisters and plays and sings Sundays at the Durango Coffee Co.
Alex Paul of the eponymous Alex Paul and the Firewall band played at the Farmers Market for the first time in May.
“I do music full time in the Four Corners and tour the Front Range,” Paul said this week. “We’ve played four times at the market and are due back Oct. 5.”
He also works as a sales rep for a ski company.
“My dad gave me a guitar when I was 13 years old,” Paul said. “I’ve never put it down.”
daler@durangoherald.com
