The Phinney Farmers Market features over 30 farmers and vendors. Photo: Sarah Schu
By Justine Beres
After closures to the Phinney Farmers Market during the pandemic, the market reopened last Friday, and will run all summer on Fridays from 3-7 pm in the upper parking lot of the Phinney Center. Shoppers will see longtime vendors like Tonnemaker Family Orchards and Alvarez Organic Farms and get to know producers new to the market.
New producer highlights include traditional French breads and pastries from The French Guys, local honey from Pixie Honey, and fresh salsa and hummus from Cascade Valley Farms. The market will also feature prepared food options from vendors like Falafel Salam and Kathmandu Momocha.
Neighborhood Farmers Markets, the nonprofit organization that organizes the Phinney Farmers Market in partnership with the PNA, temporarily closed the market during the pandemic and directed their energy toward an online shopping platform to help farmers reach shoppers during lockdowns and closures.
Executive Director Jennifer Antos reflected, “The restrictions and closures were certainly hard on our regional farms, but they also created a void of community gathering spaces. Now is exactly the right time to re-open the market and we could not be happier or more eager to reconnect the neighborhood with these producers.”
The market is a lively gathering place for the community on Friday afternoons, but it also serves a more profound purpose. At the market, shoppers can meet the folks who grow our food, learn directly from them about their farming practices, and discover unusual and heirloom varieties of many products simply not available in any grocery store.
Direct-buying from farmers also means that every dollar goes directly into the hands of the people who produce our food. This helps keep local, sustainable farmland in production which is important for local food security.
The market also has several efforts in place to enhance access for low and fixed-income shoppers. Shoppers can use SNAP/EBT benefits and will receive double the dollars to spend through the Market Match program. Additionally, shoppers can redeem WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition checks.
To celebrate the market’s reopening, Neighborhood Farmers Markets will be running a raffle for market-goers to win a $100 shopping spree at the farmers market. Shoppers can enter the raffle at the market info table during market hours throughout the month of June, and the drawing will be held at the July 1 market at 4 pm.
The Phinney Farmers Market will be open every Friday afternoon, 3-7 pm, from June 3 through Sept. 30.
