I happened to be scrolling through Twitter updates on Sunday morning and I caught a glimpse of a tweet about American Field, a pop-up market celebrating American-made goods in Boston’s SoWa Open Market in the South End. I just so happened to be heading down to the South End for a shoot that very afternoon and after reading about the market and the participating brands, I decided to leave an hour earlier so I’d have a little time to swing by the market. In hindsight, I should have left two (or three!) hours earlier – I could have stayed all afternoon!

Seeing the impressive list of participants definitely piqued my interest in attending the market, but reading the statistic that “if every consumer spent just 5% more on USA made goods, it would create nearly 1,000,000 USA jobs,” is probably what got me out the door an hour earlier on Sunday. I’ve always thought that I was pretty conscious about where the goods I’m purchasing are coming from, but in reality, I know I can be better. Hence the two-fold mission of the pop-up: inspire consumers to make these educated decisions about their spending and also introduce them to the quality American brands.

Visually, the market was inspiring. There were beautiful goods – clothing, footwear, home goods, and accessories – everywhere. I had a chance to see some items up close that I’ve long lusted after, like the blankets from Faribault Woolen Mill Co. from Minnesota or a Frank Clegg satchel. I was also introduced to countless new companies and even had the opportunity to speak with a number of the business owners themselves. I could have easily picked up nearly one of everything at the Almanac Industries table and I’m fairly certain Michael now needs a pair of New England Outerwear Company shoes. I bought a new camera strap from Hellbrand Leatherworks for my Mamiya and I desperately want to find the perfect watch from Throne. There were more than a few Maine-based business in attendance, and the L.L. Bean Bootmobile was even parked out front!

It was a pretty fortunate happenstance that I was able to attend this year’s market, but you can be certain that I’ll be paying attention to twitter for next year’s date, and will hopefully be making the trip back down to Boston with Michael in tow!