The Salmon Creek Farmers’ Market is back for its third season, with some much-appreciated continuity, as well as a couple of new wrinkles.
This is the first time the farmers’ market has returned to its previous location. The market’s season opener was July 12, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 5 and Northeast 134th Street.
It made its debut in 2010 near the Three Creeks Community Library, along a stretch of street that soon would become part of a road construction project.
Last year, it was moved to a site just south of 1315 N.E. 134th St. — behind Biscuits Café and the Wayside Market — where it set up again this summer. It is open Thursdays from 3 to 7 p.m. through September.
The continuity should help, said Ann Foster, one of the market’s organizers.
“Last year, we were facing the ‘Where are you this year?’ kind of thing,” Foster said. “Now it’s ‘You’re in the same place as last year, right?’ People are familiar with it.”
It looked to be a good crowd for opening day, said Thomas Pfandler, who was selling baked goods at the Russell’s Bread booth.
“I saw a lot of good customer flow,” Pfandler said. “You want to start off on the right foot.”
Peggy Brown was one of his customers. In addition to buying some of Pfandler’s pastry, “I look for fruit,” Brown said, “and local honey.”
Buying locally is what brought Christine Ye, another customer, out for opening day.
“I like to support the local community,” Ye said. By now, many of the vendors are familiar faces, she said.
This year’s new wrinkles include a later starting date.
“We’re all volunteers, and a longer season is a pull on our resources,” Foster said. “We also found that June is so dismal, from a product perspective. You can’t start pulling produce locally.”
Other features include live music from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Chef Britt Pedlar from the Northwest Culinary Institute will offer cooking demonstrations, with the recipes posted at www.salmoncreekfarmersmarket.com.
People eligible for supplemental food assistance can use EBT cards, thanks to help from Clark County Public Health and a grant from the Kaiser health care system that funded startup costs.
Several vendors also will hold a Tuesday market at a second location, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center. It will be open Tuesdays from 3 to 7 p.m. through September at the main entrance of the medical center, 2211 N.E. 139th St.
The vendors at Legacy Salmon Creek will sell only fresh produce and processed foods from their own farms and orchards.
