Local food lovers got a seasonal limited edition fix of Vancouver Farmers Market fare Saturday at the organization’s annual Harvest Market in downtown Vancouver.
Shoppers, gearing up for Thursday’s Thanksgiving meal, perused through bins of ruby-red cranberries from Olympia’s Bloom Creek Cranberry Farm and wild chestnuts picked from secret nooks in Skamania County. Some shoppers picked out local free-range turkeys or stocked up on other meats from pastured raised animals at Little Farms to help get through the coming winter.
“In the summer, I buy a lot of things at the market,” said Rose Valente of Vancouver. “Today, I came specifically for chestnuts. They are beautiful. Every single one is perfect.”
The chestnuts came from Skamania County, said Bill Cole of Natures Wild Harvest.
For the past three years, the farmers market has held this autumn encore on one Saturday in November, after the regular market closes for the fall and winter. The regul ar market is open every Saturday and Sunday in March through October.
With about 22 vendors, Saturday’s event was about a quarter of the size of the regular market but gave shoppers a last chance to stock up on local products for the winter and to showcase some of the Pacific Northwest’s bounty in their holiday meals.
“Our beautiful food travels the globe,” said Valente’s daughter, Donna, who didn’t want to give her last name. Donna said when she visited London, England, she noticed stores sold apples from Washington state.
“To not pull some of the Northwest in your holiday meal is a mistake,” she said.
An estimated 3,500 to 4,000 people turned out at the event, said Nathan Swango, assistant market manager.
“It was really busy for most of the day, way busier than we thought it would be,” Swango said.
New this year was a food drive for the Clark County Food Bank. About 330 pounds of food were donated the market’s five hours of operation, Swango said.
The Harvest Market also gives shoppers a chance to connect with their favorite vendors and find out how they might be able to continue to buy their favorite products straight from the farm during the winter months.
Kreinbring of Little Farms, for instance, fills orders for meat, free range poultry and eggs throughout the winter.
(A live turkey slated to make an appearance at the event illustrated the meaning of “free range” by disappearing on the Little Farms property in Centerville before owner Renee Kreinbring could catch him and bring him to the market. Four chickens had to serve as his substitute, entertaining children at the market, Kreinbring said.)
Kreinbring said she met all of her Clark County customers through the Vancouver Farmers Market. Those Clark County customers make up about half of all of her customers.
Cherry Ann Kolbenschlag and Wayne Low of Portland are among her regular customers. The couple met Kreinbring at the Vancouver Farmers Market and now orders meat from her, even when the market is closed. On Saturday, the couple bought a Heritage turkey for their Thanksgiving meal, as well as parsnips, beets, apples and squash.
“I think it’s really important for people to buy local products to support the community, and it’s an environmental issue for me,” Kolbenschlag said.
The farmers market also holds a Holiday Market from 9 a.m .to 4 p.m. Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the Hilton Vancouver Washington, 301 W. 6th St., where shoppers can look for holiday gifts from local artisans.
