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'Rare oddities' and 'mysterious curiosities': Inside the Mystique Market – CapRadio
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Shasta Smith sits in the Altar Room which resembles a mini museum with obscure historial pieces, taxidermy and other oddities for sale.
Courtesy of Shasta Smith
This Saturday, Sacramento’s Historic City Cemetery will welcome an eerie event, featuring 70 local artisans and makers.
The 8th annual Mystique Market will feature appearances from special guest historians, play ambient music and scatter talented vendors across the 30-acre location.
Admission is free, and the market is open to guests of all ages.
Shasta Smith is the market’s founder and sole organizer. She also owns The Altar Room in Sacramento, which focuses on the archiving and restoration of “oddities” and antiques.
The Altar Room resembles a miniature museum with everything from Victorian coffins to taxidermy.
“I am heavily focused on the preservation and archival of obscure historical pieces from around the world,” Smith said. “The Altar Room has been a process. It’s not just something that happens overnight.”
She encourages visitors to enter The Altar Room or attend The Mystique Market with an open mind. From her perspective, the objects are not decorations, but forgotten histories, cultural beliefs and a way for people to directly interact with the past.
“I try to have pieces in here that people do not normally get to see face to face,” Smith said. “I want them to feel absolutely comfortable, but intrigued the moment they walk in.”
The Altar Room is open to the public on Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; guests can purchase almost everything on display.
Smith created the market to give opportunities to artists and makers. This year, all 70 vendor spaces sold out within 72 hours of the applications opening.
Most festivals in Sacramento incorporate food vendors or live music, but Smith created the Mystique Market to focus solely on the vendors and what they make.
“It is about them and their opportunity to earn, even if it’s just for one day,” Smith said. “They will have a great experience with like-minded people.”
Katie Biddle Martin, a vendor at the market and the founder of Spooky Bitch Antiques talked about her experience so far as a business owner.
Her business began with her collection of Victorian mourning hair art and jewelry, once used to remember loved ones before and after death. Martin sells antique and vintage items, using them to spark conversations about death, history and morality.
“Antiques and vintage should not just be for the rich,” Martin said. “I want to make all of those things accessible to people, so they can collect them and start those conversations.”
Martin talked about how the market connects her interests with the history of the cemetery.
“It both celebrates an old cemetery, a historic place and brings out an incredible community,” Martin said.
Among the other vendors, Succulent Sirens is attending the event this year. Succulent Sirens is owned by Skye Bergen and Maria Quintero. They began in 2017 by selling succulent arrangements in each other’s homes.
They have since moved to a brick-and-mortar shop on 14th Avenue, where they sell plants, handmade jewelry made from animal bone and owl pellets, floral arrangements and curated vintage items.
“It’s kind of like a little community,” Bergen said. “We just checked up on each other and said ‘Hey, how did you do? What are you making now?”
With their “cementariums” and spooky handmade jewelry, Succulent Siren’s plant-based work fits perfectly with the market’s atmosphere. Cementariums are small terrariums filled with moss, live plants, tiny figures and miniature headstones.
Another vendor, Donna Berthelette, owns Arsenic Fashions. They sell everything from dark gothic Victorian inspired clothing to detailed fascinators. The name “Arsenic Fashions” was inspired by the play “Arsenic and Old Lace” because of its playful, slightly morbid style.
She says the market is also an opportunity to buy and sell items in person, which is difficult with the growing demand for online shopping.
“That is the one thing that I do like about these markets,” Berthelette said. “You get to buy stuff that you can see in person and feel, and you know what you’re buying.”
The Mystique Market will take place on Saturday, October 3 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Historical Sacramento City Cemetery.
Shasta Smith will also host ArtMix: Mystique on October 8 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Crocker Art Museum. Guests can expect a market with even more vendors, food, tarot and psychic readings and live performances.
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