A leather jacket costing more than $500 generally isn’t an impulse purchase, but some people running into Bridget Milligan at the Juneau Public Market on Friday have had more than a decade to reminisce about the handmade coats she once sold here and — to their surprise — are again available at least through this weekend.
It also helps when shoppers are coming inside from sub-zero wind chill conditions that persisted Friday and a heavy snowstorm is forecast during the next couple of days.
Milligan, one of about 175 vendors at the three-day market that continues through Sunday, shut down her Kodiak Coats store in 2013 after operating it in Juneau for 15 years, departing for Washington state and then Hawaii. She sold other types of clothing and crafts in those states, but kept her Juneau inventory and leather well-preserved in storage and finally was talked into making a return visit to Juneau by a friend who visited her a few months ago.
“He said, You need to get up there and sell your coats in Juneau. People love them and miss them,” she said at her booth in the main ballroom of Centennial Hall. “So I had some more leather — that was three months ago — so I sewed it all up and here I am.”
Bridget Milligan, a former Juneau resident now living in Hawaii, shows a customer leather jackets she sold at her Kodiak Coats shop before closing it in 2013. This is her first return trip to the public market since her departure. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
The Public Market opened for its 41st year at noon on Friday and Peter Metcalfe, the event’s longtime organizer, said traffic as well as the number of vendors seemed to be at peak levels.
“We’re back,” he said, referring to the dropoff that occurred after the COVID-19 pandemic halted and then slowed in-person traffic for a few years. “We were never gone, but we’ve gone beyond where we’ve ever gone before.”
The market continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with a $10 cash admission to enter Centennial Hall where most of the vendors are, and free admission to the roughly 40 vendors at the adjacent Juneau Arts and Culture Center. The final day in particular might be a bit rough for some people to get to, with the weather forecast calling for six to 14 inches of snow and wind gusts up to 45 miles per hour between 6 p.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Monday.
About half of the vendors are from Juneau, the rest from around Alaska and other scattered states. Live music, prize drawings and other activities are also taking place at the venues.
A newer companion event, the Indigenous Artists and Vendors Holiday Market that features about two dozen vendors at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, is scheduled from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Peter Metcalfe, longtime organizer of the Juneau Public Market, greets a helper in the main ballroom at Centennial Hall on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Kodiak Coats, as described by Milligan, are waterproof and fleece-lined to withstand the elements, with fur-lined hoods a big selling point for some of the potential buyers stopping to browse. Catrina Mitchell, a longtime resident who went from browser to buyer within a few minutes, said she didn’t recognize Milligan or the coats immediately, but remembered the store when its name was mentioned.
“I had to buy while she had my size because my size is going fast,” Mitchell said.
While that might sound like a classic salesperson’s pitch, the reality of the situation played out minutes later with another prospective buyer who located a single coat of the style she wanted remaining in her size. In this instance it was a fellow vendor — Greta Healy, operations director for Sagebrush Dry Gear in Kake — who knew Milligan and her fondness of equipment for outdoor activities from previous time together in Sitka.
“I think I think we’re gonna do a trade,” Healy said as Milligan pointed toward the dry bags and other gear hanging within sight at the Sagebrush booth.
“I’m gonna get my kids’ Christmas presents from her booth,” Milligan said.
Shoppers and vendors mingle along rows of booths in the mall ballroom at Centennial Hall during the Juneau Public Market on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Healy said she’s also doing smaller-item shopping during the weekend and, like many people interviewed, said what she picks out tends to vary a lot year-to-year depending on what she spots.
“I just bought some of those dehydrated fish like shrimp and sea cucumber bites in the corner over there,” she said. “They were fantastic. I’m really excited about those.”
One corner of the ballroom, as usual, was filled with various food stands selling hot meals as well as packaged foods. John and Laura Doogan, purchasing containers of Pakistani street food from one of the stands, said they come to the market every year, but without much of a plan beyond getting food and browsing for whatever purchases strike their fancy.
“I get calendars for sure,” she said, referring to the always-busy booth of works by photographer Mark Kelley, “and then a variety of other things.”
Milligan said she had sold nine of the estimated 50 coats at her booth during the first three-and-a-half hours the Public Market was open on Friday — a brisk pace, especially since “I didn’t even think people would be interested in my coats anymore.”
“It’s been so much fun,” she said. “Everybody’s like ‘I’ve had my coat for 20 years.’”
A cello group performs holiday songs in the main lobby of Centennial Hall during the Juneau Public Market on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Milligan — who in a 2013 interview said her goal for decades has been “to spend the rest of my life on a camping trip” — said if she does sell most or all of her coats she doesn’t know yet if that would motivate her to make more coats and return to the market next year.
“I’m really bad at planning ahead,” she said. “I just sort of hang on. My life has been really great and I just sort of go with the flow.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
Vendors and shoppers fill the Juneau Arts and Culture Center during the Juneau Public Market on Friday. Admission is free to the JACC, where lesser-known and newer vendors often have spaces. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Shoppers examine the vendor booths at the Indigenous Artists and Vendors Holiday Market at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Friday. The market, matching the days of the Juneau Public Market, is scheduled to be open noon to 5 p.m. through Sunday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
