Guests lined up outside the gates of Snowport before it opened on Saturday morning, eager to beat the crowds and access Seaport’s pop-up holiday market — complete with handmade gifts, holiday cheer, and smelly cheese sandwiches.
Simone Cole, 23, and her friends got in line around 10:30, half an hour before the market opened, to beat the rush. They were determined to avoid the timed admission tickets, which go for $14 per adult, or $20 if purchased day-of.
“That’s a trap,” she said.
Though she had never visited Snowport before, Cole said she’d been promised some hot chocolate. The group of friends passed the time in line chatting, people watching, and “patiently waiting,” she said.
When the doors opened at 11, all the visitors who arrived early were ushered in — including several groups who had paid for timed entry tickets, only to find no line on the drizzly morning.
Melissa Bacon, 54, decided to visit the market while on a trip to see her son in Boston. The Lakeville resident arrived twenty minutes before opening.
“My son has a meeting,” she said. “Let’s go waste some time.”
Lauren Engler, 20, brought her mom to Snowport this year after stopping by the previous two years. The small vendors make the holiday busyness worth it, she said, though lines appear to be growing.
“I feel like it’s gotten worse this year,” Engler said. “I guess more people are hearing about it.”
Vendors said the crowds at Snowport make for reliable revenue.
“It’s a big part of our business, and we’ve got return customers as well by doing this year after year,” said Sam Miller, who was selling his wife’s wooden serving boards.
Meghan Miller, Sam’s wife and resident musician for the La Marée booth, uses resin to decorate wooden boards in the design of an ocean wave. She’s based in Maine, but the booth has held a spot at Snowport for four or five years, Sam Miller said.
“What she found was targeting events like this — where they invest in bringing people to her booth — was just a really good tool,” Miller said. “We don’t have to do the marketing.”
Miller said “bigger wallets” around the Boston area play a role in boosting sales.
At the Esthetic Living booth, Jaida Geiser was selling Turkish trays, Swedish dish cloths, and tea towels. Sales have been slightly up compared with last year, said Geiser, who is the girlfriend of the booth’s owners’ son.
“Overall, it’s been really busy this year, so everyone’s happy about that,” she said.
Geiser said she thinks the attraction to Snowport comes from the ability to support small businesses and social media hype.
“From the consumer eye, it just seems like you can get more unique things and things that are more tailored to an individual and more thoughtful,” she said.
Katie Muchnick can be reached at katie.muchnick@globe.com.
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