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When you think of an umbrella, you probably think of a little pop up hand held umbrella that you keep in the car or your purse just in case it rains. But what about market umbrellas? You’ve probably all seen one somewhere before, but did you know what it was?
A market umbrella is typically an outdoor wooden umbrella that is used in commercial environments such as outdoor restaurants, cafes, bars and basically any place that people congregate outdoors relaxing and dining. They originally came from Europe where they were used in outdoor cafes and markets.
Recently the wooden umbrellas have been replaced with a variety of aluminium patio umbrellas due to their strength and durability outdoors. Aluminium is much more weather resistant then their wooden counterparts, which is why you can now get a combination of both – a wooden pole with a steel rod inserted in the center of a drilled shaft. This makes the wood much more wind resistant and gives it added strength.
The main difference between market umbrellas and regular beach umbrellas or patio umbrellas is the missing valance, which is the skirting around the umbrellas edge. Market umbrellas have very straight lines and are quite sleek looking. They also have a wind vent in the top to prevent them from blowing away – something that ordinary umbrellas do not have.
Umbrellas were originally only used by ladies as a shade from the sun or rain. It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that they became popular and rather main stream. An occasional market stall or cafe would put a large umbrella up in front of the stall to shelter their customers from the rain or sun.
Shopkeepers realised that their customers stayed longer and bought more when they were protected from the outside elements, so more and more shopkeepers started putting up umbrellas and they soon became known as market umbrellas.
