To Vend Or Not To Vend? Let’s Turn Boredom Into Boardwalk!
by Mycenay
In 1989 and 1990 I lived and studied in Florence, Italy. It was one of the richest experiences in my life. Florence, as well as many European cities I visited, teamed with an exciting cacophony of music, laughter, and conversation, with vibrant colors of many cultures and diverse peoples enriching the environment with their beauty and unique goods, mostly from Africa and the Middle and Far East. The city teamed with the pungent smells of fresh baked bread, spices, coffee, and perfumes. Florence teamed with LIFE!
In the late afternoons and evenings the streets “in centro” (downtown) were alive. Performers, musicians, and vendors graced the sidewalks and streets and were the attraction which created a festive social ambiance that made people feel relaxed and jovial, drawing customers to the market area because they made every evening a party. People enjoyed wandering around outside as well as popping into the shops and boutiques which were also open for business and usually carried more high-end goods. The informal market of the street vendors complemented the formal market of the shopkeepers; it was a marriage, not a competition, and created balance. There was something for everyone, of every tax bracket, to enjoy.
Street vending is an ancient profession and part of every civilization’s culture and history. As I gaze upon an engraving by Nicolas Larmessin (1684-1755) which depicts the “traveling coffee vendor [who was often from the Orient and] once played an integral part of everyday life [in Europe],” I wonder, what has happened to the street vendor in our industrialized, “civilized,” televised, modern world?
The belief system of most of the anthropological scholarship of the 1950s and ’60s in the U.S. was “that street markets and bazaars were part of a romantic past that has little place in the ‘modern’ world. Street vending is a lifestyle choice, allowing [the vendor] greater personal freedom and flexibility. [Hence] street vending came under savage attack throughout the modernist era” due to the greed and gluttony of the formal market system which began to disrepute street vendors and to see them as competition rather than complements.
One of the negative traits we humans have is the tendency to want to control each other; and when there’s money involved, oooooh, that really brings up our control issues! There are many reasons for this that go back a long, long way…but that’s another story. The formal market wanted to dictate to and control the selling field and, therefore, the consumer. Street vending (the informal market) is founded in individualism, freedom, and personal creativity. It is a forum of “the people” and a venue for artistic expression, new ideas, change, and even activism. For example, in South Africa in the 1980s and ’90s, “by seizing and conquering the streets of Durban, street traders boldly defied and undermined the grand apartheid urban project, and through this important symbolic occupation gradually forced forward a de-racialising of the city, setting an important precedent for the later mass non-compliance.” Three cheers for the street vendors in Durban!!!
One of the biggest criticisms of modernization and Western culture (some might argue that the term “Western culture” is an oxymoron!) is that the “life,” the “joie de vivre,” the “carpe diem” concept, has been systematically drained by corporate cloning, and left in its wake are antiseptic strip malls and subdivisions. The symptoms of the corporate cloning disease of Western society manifest in frequent outbreaks of Wal-Marts and Targets, rashes of McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Taco Bells, and the now common cluster subdivision epidemic!!! It’s like the Twilight Zone…you could be transported in your sleep from one town in middle America to another and never know it until you picked up the local newspaper!
Our cozy nest we Sedonans call home is unique and beautiful, recently rated #1 of the most beautiful places in America by the USA Weekend, but frankly we have God to thank for that. If we’re not careful we could build another “cookie-cutter” community right here in the middle of Sedona’s red rocks. Wouldn’t we rather complement our magnificent surroundings with art, music, and real culture? Done with balance, respect, and proper procedure, bringing a little “bohemia” to our streets would enliven and enrich the Sedona experience, not to mention the Sedona economy. Although Sedona still has a long way to go, many organizations and businesses are starting to open their doors as music venues. I encourage city planners (and beseech the reader to encourage them) to reevaluate ideas of the “appropriate” use of public space and to look at the familial, social, and economic benefits street vendors, musicians, and thespians have had on city inhabitants and tourists throughout history and into the present day. Let’s wake up Sedona, bring some entertainment and fun to her streets, and put it on the “happenin’ map” quick!…before rigormortis sets in!
* "Street Vendors, Modernity and Postmodernity: Conflict and Compromise in the Global Economy" By: John C. Cross, PhD, published in the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 21, #1/2, 2000.
* "Street Trading from Apartheid to Post-Apartheid: More Birds in the Cornfield?" By: Stein Inge Nesvag, published in the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 21 #3/4, 2000.