The Everett Farmers Market Gears Up for 2017
The Everett Farmers Market will open on Mother’s Day this year. It’s expected to draw 8,000 visitors on opening day—people buying local produce, meats, eggs, bread, flowers, fish, and crafts from 165 registered vendors.
Market vendors pulled in a combined total of a million dollars last year. On the first day of the 2016 season the market’s website drew 29,000 hits.
It’s a very big “dill.”
South Everett Market. Credit: Rock Park Photography
This year’s initial seasonal offerings are expected to be asparagus, onions, lettuce, and cherries—plus vendors selling ready-to-eat foods like hot dogs, ice cream, crepes, and crab cakes.
The dog- and kid-friendly market sits on the waterfront in Boxcar Park. There are new picnic shelters in place this season and on a sunny day there’s no better place to watch boats motor down the length of Jetty Island.
A good model
How local is “local”?
At your average grocery store “local” can describe an orange trucked up from Southern California.
By contrast, farmers market guidelines dictate that vendors can only sell produce grown in Washington. All processors have to process their products here.
Everything at the market—from bok choy to Vietnamese-style hot sauce to ritzy cutting boards—are grown or made in the Evergreen State.
So your market peach comes from Eastern Washington, not Georgia—ensuring a product that is fresher and has a smaller carbon footprint. Plus your dollar goes to a Washington farmer.
You can’t “beet” that model.
Handcrafted condiments
The market adds value to the community in other ways, too.
Project Harvest, a nonprofit, collects leftover perishable produce to donate to Everett food banks and soup kitchens.
In addition, the market also accepts EBT cards and food stamps. All EBT funds will be matched by private donations, meaning low-income shoppers can double their spending power and have increased access to nutritious food.
Behind the scenes
Market manager Karen Erickson keeps things running behind the scenes. She creates social media content for the market, works the info booth, tracks budgets on spreadsheets, and books musicians.
She has managed the Everett market for eleven years. Before that she managed the Snohomish Farmer’s Market for seven years.
Karen has an entrepreneurial spirit. She is a consultant, a web designer, and teaches sewing classes out of her office at the GroWashington store on Colby.
Karen Erickson in her office
“I haven’t worked for the man for forty years,” she laughs. Community is important to her. “I live downtown and walk seven minutes to work.”
Karen says that the market fosters a sense of camaraderie. Vendors are together for six months year after year and many of them barter goods with each other. It’s a shared place where people grow up, form relationships, move on, stay in contact.
“Shopping from people you know—that’s what I like,” says Karen. She says she enjoys eating kale, spinach, and other fresh greens. “During the market season I’ll sometimes stop and think I haven’t been to the grocery store in months.”
Yet she doesn’t even seem to “carrot” all.
Tip: Busy Sunday? Live/work in S. EVT? Starting June 23rd this year the South Everett Farmers Market will be held on Fridays in the parking lot at the Everett Mall.
Richard Porter is a social worker and musician. He lives in North Everett and enjoys running on Marine View Drive, bicycling down tree-lined streets, and trying to coax vegetables out of his yard.
