The weather could not have been better for the last day of the summer-fall farmers market in the University District. The sun was out, the temperature was up and the shoppers strolled along the rows of vendors.
This year, the market's customers will not have to wait until May or June for it to reopen.
The University District Farmers Market begins its second official winter season on Dec. 31. The market will be open every week through February at the University Heights Center, at Northeast 50th Street and University Way Northeast.
Another winter market is opening in West Seattle. That market will run through February as well.
The markets are organized by the Neighborhood Farmers' Market Alliance (NFMA).
Weather-related success
The winter season is indicative of the increasing success of the U-District market in recent years. This trend has seen the summer-fall market extend its season from early October to mid-December. The NFMA projects a 6-percent increase in revenue this year for the U-District market.
The market's appeal is easy to see. Customers chat with vendors, and each other. Musicians ring the market. People go for the atmosphere as much as the food.
The market has "a built-in core of loyal shoppers," explained Chris Curtis, director of the NFMA. The organization expects that this core will be able to support the growing winter market. Many customers have asked vendors if they would be at the winter market.
Weather will be a factor in determining the winter market's success. Inclement weather will not only keep shoppers away, it also will affect what vendors can offer.
"It's all based on what farmers can bring in," Curtis said.
Unusually cold weather in November and December has already hampered several farmers. Wade Bennett, of Rockridge Orchards in Enumclaw, said he has snow covering his fields, preventing him from harvesting any arugula.
He said, "We grow the best arugula mid-winter, but you can't pick it when it's frozen to the ground."
Vendor interest
Arugula or no arugula, Bennett is excited about the new season. Like the other winter-market vendors , he leapt at a chance to make money during the cold, lean months.
"For a farmer, being able to get an income in January and February is a godsend," Bennett said, excitedly.
The idea for a winter market in the U-District came from Jeff Miller, of Willie Green's Organic Farm. Two years ago, the farm used the farmers-market site to distribute produce to customers of its Community Supported Agriculture program during the market's offseason.
Miller invited another vendor, Little Frog, to join him under his canopy that year.
Sales went so well, that he organized an official winter market the following year.
Last year's inaugural winter market hosted only a handful of vendors. Even so, Miller said, "We had a lot of people coming by with just seven or eight vendors."
Encouraged by last year's success, 22 vendors signed up for this year's winter market. The first year "proved to everyone that we could run" a winter market, Bennett said.
From Miller's perceptive, it has been a natural progression. "This is the most successful [farmers] market in Washington state...," he noted. "It's only natural they'd want to extend it."
Patrick Meyer, of Stoney Plains Organic Farm, echoed the sentiment. Stoney Plains, one of the state's first certified organic farms, participated in last year's winter market.
"We decided we had the produce, and we wanted to come," Meyer explained.
He expects Stoney Plains will have almost all of its regular produce available at the winter market.
"It's going to keep us pretty busy," said Meyer, who is the farm's lead foreman and the son of the farm's owners. Still, Meyer would like a year-round market: "We have the produce to go year-round."
Customer interest
Customers are certainly interested. One customer told Bennett, "[Last] February, there was one stand here, and I still came."
For the time being, the NFMA is not planning to open any other winter markets, Curtis said. She did not rule out the possibility, however, noting, "More and more people want to shop this way."
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