What: Salmon Creek Farmers’ Market.
Where: Just south of 1315 N.E. 134th St., behind Biscuits Cafe and Wayside Market.
When: 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays, through September.
Web: www.salmoncreekfarmersmarket.com.
The Salmon Creek Farmers’ Market opens its fifth year Thursday with an anniversary celebration that will continue throughout the 2014 market season.
The market is in an open area south of 1315 N.E. 134th St., behind Biscuits Café and the Wayside Market.
The anniversary celebration will introduce some family-friendly elements, market organizer Ann Foster said, as well as a new product line for people older than 21.
At Thursday’s season opener, children will be able to make jam and bread for $3. The event is offered by a WSU Clark Country Extension program that will also be at the July 24 market.
Starting on July 17, four “Biz Kidz” Thursdays during July and August will feature entrepreneurs between the ages of 11 and 17, most from local 4-H clubs, selling handmade products.
Visitors can see cooking demonstrations by Farrar’s Bistro and Healthy Families. There will be a special kids’ cooking corner on Aug. 21 as part of the market’s annual Kids’ Day.
The Salmon Creek Farmers’ Market will participate in several food assistance programs, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program and Fresh Match. There also will be the Produce Pals program for all children, regardless of their families’ income levels.
“They get a $2 token they can use to buy any fresh fruit or produce they want,” Foster said. “It’s now funded by Kaiser Permanente.”
For an older clientele, this year’s new offerings will include sampling and sale of Purple Star wines, presented by Vancouver’s Cellar 55.
“Wine sampling is new for us,” Foster said. They’d been able to sell wine before, but state legislation in 2013 that allowed sampling made it practical.
“That’s what motivates wineries” to be at farmers’ markets, Foster said. “It’s not worth lugging inventory around if people can’t sample it.”
The organization will continue its smaller Tuesday markets this year at the entrance to Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, 2211 N.E. 139th St.; they are open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through September,
This is the fourth year in a row the market has been at the same location. It debuted in 2010 near the Three Creeks Community Library before moving in 2011 to its present location, just west of exit 7 off Interstate 5.
