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Photo by Ray Pettengell Ashland High School junior Hilary King, 16, sells toffee to Mort Martin of El Dorado Hills, Calif., at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Green Show. King works for the Tudor Guild Gift Shop selling toffee, cookies and programs. SUMMER'S CHILD Teens and the Bard Summer vendors learn sweet lessons By JONEL ALECCIA EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is one in a series about local children's lives during the summer. The stories appear on Mondays throughout the summer. ASHLAND -- Hilary King spent a recent afternoon viewing "Shakespeare in Love" on video, so perhaps that's why she's so happy to spend the evening at work. Smiling, with flowers in her hair and sweets on her tray, the 16-year-old vendor with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival clearly is delighted to be on the job. "I love it," the Ashland High junior says. "It's great. It's everybody's vacation, so they're all really happy to be here." Hilary insists that the lingering effects of the Academy Award-winning movie have only passing influence on her natural enthusiasm. As proof, there are two dozen other young vendors who find plenty to smile about at work. They've got summer jobs, for one thing, often the very first employment these 14- to 17-year-olds have ever had. They make decent money -- $6.50 an hour, minimum wage -- and they work short hours -- usually 6:30 to 9 p.m. a couple days a week through Labor Day. Best of all, they're not scooping ice cream, shagging newspapers or babysitting, the most common options open to folks with almost no work experience. Instead, the workers, known as Elizabethan vendors, circulate through the festival's pre-play crowds, politely purveying candies, cookies and other sweets. They also sell souvenir programs and synopses of the night's plays. "A lot of people refer to them as `tart girls,"' says Mary Hook, who coordinates vendors and volunteers for the festival's Tudor Guild. "But that's a misnomer because we no longer sell tarts." And the vendors aren't all girls, either. The ranks hired in May include several boys. The vendors hit "the bricks" -- the festival complex courtyard -- to sell some $75 to $100 worth of merchandise each night. In addition, the young aides offer friendly faces and ready answers to hundreds of curious play-goers. "I try to tell them that they're the very first person the customer talks to associated with the Shakespeare festival," says Hook, who typically interviews twice as many kids as she can hire. Hence the happy smiles and the prompt replies to customer questions. "The most common question is `Where is door number three?"' says Morgan Lundquist, 15, of Ashland. "But they ask you really weird questions, too, like if they can rent the dancers and take them back home with them." (The answers are "through the double doors" and "no.") Maintaining a cheery demeanor isn't always easy, the vendors say. "Some days you have those off days and you have to stand out there and smile," says Morgan. "Even if you don't feel like it." But the only real drawback to the vendor job is the attire, some workers say. "We have these just horrible black skirts, china flats, puffy white shirts and these vest-y things," says Elena Holley, 15, of Ashland. Adds Morgan: "It's pretty embarrassing at first when your friends see you. But then it's like, hey, I'm getting paid for this." Morgan is saving her money for family trips and a car, while Elena has already reaped the benefits of the working life. "I bought a J. Crew swimsuit," she says. "It was $60 but it's cute. I'm just basically using the money for going to the movies and stuff so my parents don't have to pay." The benefits aren't all monetary. Morgan figures it can't hurt to have the Oregon Shakespeare Festival on a future resume. And parents of young vendors say the job is a painless way to teach responsibility and perhaps a little culture. Even better, the kids who do well usually can count on returning the next year. "It's kind of a good way for a teenager to break into a job," says Tamara Strickland of Ashland, whose 15-year-old daughter, Leah, is a summer vendor. The program has been running for decades, says Hook, who joined the festival in 1991. "It's a wonderful experience because we get a chance to see the students as they get older and move through school," she says. ``Some are athletes, some are scholars, some stay in the area and some come back and work in the Tudor Guild. There are two here right now who I trained when they were 14." Hilary, who's back for a second year as a vendor, considers this job a coup compared with the gigs some friends have arranged. "This is a great summer job," she says. "It's better than working in a dentist's office." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA