But Poulsbo Farmers Market Manager and Director of Washington State Farmers Market Association, Jackie Aitcheson, says there’s some good news – it’s been a record-breaking season for the state’s farmers markets.
“From our first reports it looks like there has been about a 60 per cent increase in sales in our local farmers markets state-wide,” says Aitcheson. “And we opened eight new markets this year – it’s just been amazing to watch.”
Aitcheson says she thinks more people want to know where there food comes from and she feels that most want to buy local and keep their consumer spending dollars spent locally as much as possible.
Clint Dudley, Kingston Farmers Market manager says there’s an added community benefit to those who purchase at their local farmers market.
“Statistics show that businesses around the farmers market also receive a lot of sales as a result of people stopping at the farmers market, then doing other shopping in the process. With the price of gas, one-stop local shopping makes a lot of sense,” says Dudley.
Keeping a farmers market going for the season involves a lot of work by volunteers and market managers as well as many farmer-vendors who must get up before dawn to ensure that they have the freshest possible produce available at the market. And many markets have additional attractions to manage such as entertainment, special events, food booths, and craft vendors.
Some of the markets even have vendor-volunteer managers who put in hours of overtime, such as the board of the Bremerton Farmers Market, Kim Schleis, Tiffany Royal, Chuck Muller, Kris Day and Cynthia Jeffries-Cyr of the Bremerton Farmers Market.
Royal says: “It’s been an exceptional year for us and I think the addition of WIC and senior coupons have brought a lot more to market but I think there’s also a growing awareness that people have of the importance of buying local, fresh food.”
Same goes for Laura Pittman-Hewitt and Pam Moyer of the Port Orchard Farmers Market. In addition to all of the duties running the market with such tasks as sales receipt collection, setting up the market, hiring entertainment and demonstration, this hardworking pair is also farmer-vendors in this market. Monica Phillips, long-time Silverdale Farmers market manager does it all…and she’s a vendor-farmer too. Susan Harrington managed the new Friday Hansville market this year and is looking to expand next year.
Most farmers markets couldn’t operate without their many outstanding volunteers.
Mor-Mor restaurant owners, John and Laura Nesby, exemplify some of those community volunteers who have donated their time, service, and goods to our farmers markets. John, a Poulsbo Market board member, served as a guest chef at Poulsbo Market but he has also coordinated and brought in all of the other volunteer chef demonstrators at this market as well as conducting the popular annual Tomato Taste-Off. Laura has instituted a community benefit program that donates five per cent of their Wednesday lunch proceeds from the couple’s restaurant for an entire month to a non-profit community organization – Poulsbo Farmers Market was the beneficiary in June. Mor-Mor is also hosting the market’s fund raising dinner this Sunday.
If you’re still looking for your weekly farmers market fix, the late harvest of some crops has allowed Poulsbo Farmers Market to extend their season through tomorrow, October 18, so local shoppers can have a last crack at buying fresh local produce. They are also hosting a Buy Local For Thanksgiving and Holiday Market at the Poulsbo Library on Sat. Nov. 22 from 1 – 5 p.m.
As this growing season comes to a close, we should all give a word of thanks to our local food growers and producers along with those tireless volunteers who have made our farmers markets possible. The increase in attendance and sales by our markets indicate a positive overall trend that the general public is becoming aware of and buying locally-made food here in Kitsap.