Mistletoe sale gets 11-year-old girl booted from Portland Saturday Market

Good for her!


http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/...tletoe_sale_gets_11-year-ol.html#incart_river


Madison Root of Lake Oswego spent much of the day last Friday cutting and bagging mistletoe at her uncle’s Newberg farm.

On Saturday, the 11-year-old plopped down a box near the Skidmore Fountain at Portland Saturday Market with dozens of beribbonned bags inside. In less than a half-hour, she'd sold seven of them at $4 a pop.

"She had an idea to make some money to help pay for her braces,’’ said her father, Ashton Root. Actually, the idea came from her dad, who did the same thing when he was a kid to make extra cash for Christmas presents.

But the sixth-grader's home-grown business was short-lived.

A private security guard for the market told Madison and her dad that they were violating city code (specifically Chapter 20.12.020, “Soliciting For or Conducting Business” in a public park). Under the rule, it's illegal to “sell or offer to sell any article or service” without a permit.

Portland Saturday Market's office is closed Mondays, so officials weren't available for comment.

Ashton Root said the guard told them that his daughter could beg for money, but she couldn't sell the mistletoe or even give it away and ask for a donation.

"We totally understand the rule,” Root said. “But here she was selling mistletoe and all around her were people playing music for money, or asking for money for pot, or just spare change. We’re allowing people to beg, but not to sell; it seems like there should be some sort of exception.”

Once the story got out, a man called and bought 30 bags of mistletoe, Root said. Then Ken Cook, owner of McKenzie Farms, called Monday and donated $1,000 to Madison Root’s braces fund.

Cook saw the story and wanted to help out “the little entrepreneur,” said Debbie Tedrow, office manager for the Estacada-based Christmas tree farm.

And so what started as a way to make money to straighten her teeth became a way to address a bigger issue.

“I feel that I can make a statement and possibly make a difference,” Madison Root said. “The city laws are supporting begging and are against working.”

Thanks to her mistletoe sales and the large donation, she went to the orthodontist Monday and got her top row of braces, she said.

On Saturday, Dec. 14, at 2:30 p.m. she plans to return to Skidmore Fountain for what she’s calling “The Great Kissoff.” There should be plenty of mistletoe with her and she plans to give a speech outlining her plans for making a difference.

“She may break the law, or just give it away,’’ her dad said. “Donations accepted.”

His daughter has always been a go-getter, he said: “We had many lemonade stands.”

 

Fucking Portland


Great for that outstanding young girl and her family. Is there a link in the link you provided on how to donate to her braces fund for her lower teeth?

 

No kidding....

 

Illegals can roof, landscape (right, HCP?), sell produce and flowers on street corners, people can have car washes... no questions asked. But God forbid an 11-year old girl sell some mistletoe to raise a few dollars.

 

Good for her! I would donate to her fund as well.

 

Skidmore Market and Portland Saturday Market are private businesses who pay a large sum to lease the space from the city. They spend a small fortune advertising to attract customers. Each individual vendor pays each day ($35-$50) for his/her 8 x 8 space of concrete. For most of them, this is how they make their living, and it's a meager living at that. Many of them live in vans, tents and trailers, or relatives garages.

For this girl to just squat there and steal their customers is unfair, illegal, and her father needs to step back and think what lesson he is teaching her. If he's too cheap to pay the fee, or too aloof to teach her how to conduct her business legally, he's a poor excuse for a parent. Nobody is saying she can't sell her mistletoe. And she clearly can afford to pay the fee.

I doubt that they actually saw ANY drug use of any kind there. I never have and I've been there hundreds of times. They police themselves pretty well.

Begging is protected as Free Speech in our country, and most cities that try to prohibit it lose in court.

 

This might be the single most ridiculous post in the forum ever.

She is a squatter
her dad is a poor excuse for a parent

Just wow

 

You're quoting a troll and surprised by the trollish content of his post?

 

All she has to do is get an "Occupy" sign, and she will be welcomed by the city with open arms...

 

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are the views of MARIS61, a fictional message board character created for my amusement, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of any real person alive or deceased.

 

Same as if she set up on aisle 3 of a Safeway store and sold fresh produce from dad's farm.

There are a million places she could do this, including dad's property or the internet or snail mail or simply ask a local store or national chain if she could use their parking lot.

Says a lot about dad that he chose instead to use his daughter to steal money from local businesses to cover HIS expenses. Last time I looked 11 year-olds weren't financially responsible for their healthcare.

 

I think you're being a little tough on the dad, who actually is showing his daughter the value of working instead of just handing her money, and apparently didn't know it was illegal to do so on a corner near the market.

Other than that, I think everything else you've posted is accurate, and I agree that selling in the Skidmore area during market w/out paying for a spot or the advertising is wrong, and should be addressed. i don't think it's unreasonable that everyone selling items in the market should play by the same rules.