Monroe Farmers Market
growing strong
With only a month of Tuesdays left in the first year of the Monroe Farmer’s Market, organizers are calling it a success, while acknowledging that it got off to a slow start.
“The Farmer’s Market has been doing well,” said Beth Stucker of the Monroe HIstorical Society, which organized the market as a society fundraiser. “It seems to keep going.”
Each week, about 10-12 awnings are set up, beneath which local farmers and craftspeople have sold their wares.
Some have enjoyed considerable success; Michelle Armstrong sold out of hand-sewn neck coolers during the weeks of hot weather, and others have struggled.
“It’s just about like the other farmer’s markets we go to, “ said Jer Chang, of Chue Ze Chang Gardens of Woodinville, poised behind a riotous display of flowers. “It’s not as good as we hoped though. But it did grow in the last few weeks.”
“It’s been okay,” said the affable Kurt Biederbost, a Tualco Valley farmer who with his nephew Mike Stockdale sold corn and berries at Kurt’s Produce at the market last Tuesday.
The turnout from locals could be higher, but the vendors believe in the market, and some have already prepaid for their spots next year, and the future looks bright, said market manager Lynn Gose.
“For our first year, it’s been doing phenomenal,” she said. “Not a lot of people come in, but people are coming in more and more. And I’ve already got commitments from people for next year, and some have already pre-paid.”
Stucker said that the market has already exceeded her expectations. “It was worth it,” she said. “It gave us a nice little income through the summer.”
It’s not over yet, though. Late summer crops are arriving each week. “Now corn and pumpkins and potatoes are coming and king salmon has arrived,” she said. “Honey is coming next week.”
During the market’s hours of 2-7 p.m., there is either live music or a DJ, and kids can often do chalk art on the pavement of the market’s lot, which occupies the parking lot at the north end of main street each Tuesday afternoon.
Attendance is growing, said Gose, and she expects next year to be even better.
“It’s a strong market, it’s really strong,” she said.
The Monroe Farmer’s Market will continue through the 30th of September.
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