For my summertime travels I had BIG PLANS for my caricature busking, my first buskspot being at the farmers’ market in Kamloops, British Columbia. (See the picture and words posted above!)
I LOVE KAMLOOPS! And I love Kamloops for a couple of reasons. Firstly, every summer I drive to Kamloops to hike and hang out with my daughter and granddaughter who reside there, and secondly, my early memories of Kamloops are most certainly hazed through romantic nostalgia.
In
1972, the summer of the BIG FLOOD of the North and South Thompson rivers, my
cousin and I hitch-hiked from Regina to Kamloops to work in the sawmill. And
what a summer that was! But that is another story for another time …
Anyway, back to the KAMLOOPS FARMERS’ MARKET. The website for such proves that the Kamloops Farmers’ Market is not acephalous and it states that it loves having buskers.
Factoid: These words that are posted on the Kamloops Farmers' Market website are just glib -- they sound great, but they are not sincere.
A
few days before the day of the market and following the directions as presented
on the website (shown above), I called and left a voice message, and a text. One day passed
and crickets (for a reply) to either one. Two days passed and still crickets. In the early morning on the day of the market, I sent another text directly to Greg, the
market manager, to which he did reply. In summary, he stated that as a
caricaturist, I would be listed as a “crafter” rather than as a “busker.” As a
“crafter” I would have to formally apply four months in advance to sell my wares at the market, because, the acceptance of such "is quite a process.” But it did not matter anyway, since my place of residence was outside 100-mile radius of Kamloops, I would not qualify. The Kamloops
Farmers’ Market is for locals only. To say the least, I was certainly
addlepated!
From my experiences as a street caricaturist everywhere elsewhere from Kamloops, as a caricaturist, I have been a busker in Dublin, Ireland, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in Marrakech, Morocco, and several cities in Canada.
Hmmm. I googled the question: “Are Street caricaturists considered to
be buskers?” And the answer, according to AI, “Yes, Street caricaturists are
considered buskers. Busking encompasses a wide range of performance arts in
public spaces, including drawing caricaturists.”
Hmmm.
And then I wondered, has Manager Greg never been to other markets? Including even
the very famous and close-to-Kamloops Inner Harbour in Victoria, British
Columbia, where the caricaturists are significant members of the buskerhood,
performing for masses of tourists each summer day?! Only at the KAMLOOPS
FARMERS’ MARKET, it seems, CARICATURISTS ARE NOT CONSIDERED TO BE BUSKERS!
Yes. This may be petty, but I shall continue, nonetheless. Now back in my home province
of Saskatchewan, I have been very busy drawing caricatures, as a busker, at
several farmers’ markets.
Here
are some of my portraits from just last week from farmers’ markets in MOSSBANK
and LIMERICK, two small resort towns in Saskatchewan, and my home city, REGINA:
And because I was dismissed from the KAMLOOPS FARMERS’ MARKET, I headed for RIVERSIDE PARK, right in the heart of Kamloops and drew these fine people who were working the BIKE VALET:
In this blog post I want to send kudos to all those “other” farmers’ market managers who have and continue to warmly welcome and embrace me as a CARICATURIST-BUSKER, simply with a heartfelt smile and handshake, and without having the complications of a written application of any sort.
And
to close, my point for writing this post was to hoist by his own
petard, the KAMLOOPS FARMERS’ MARKET manager. And I believe I have done
just that!
