PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Farmers Market’s season closes on Saturday with a special celebration.
Festivities will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the market in the 600 block of Tyler Street and inside the Port Townsend Community Center at 620 Tyler St.
Closing day on Saturday will provide its usual offerings of farm-fresh and artisan food as well as handmade arts, enhanced by several returning vendors, said Amanda Milholland, director of Jefferson County Farmers Markets.
Live music by Jonathan Doyle, the Wild Rose Chorale and Aimée Ringle with Alexa Rose and friends will be heard. Story time, offered by the Port Townsend Public Library, will be from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
“After two challenging years of COVID-19 market operations, the 30th Jefferson County Farmers Market (JCFM) season has been one of recovery,” Milholland said.
This season, more than 80 Jefferson and Clallam County farm, artisan food and arts businesses participated in the Port Townsend market and the Chimacum Farmers Market, which closed for the season in October, Milholland said.
With vendor sales exceeding $1.5 million, the 2022 JCFM season broke past sales records, she said.
A total of 21 new farm, food and art businesses joined 13 returning ones (businesses that had not participated for at least one year) this year, she said.
While the Chimacum market shopper base grew in 2022 with 575 shoppers at its peak, the Port Townsend market did not fully regain its shopper base, according to Milholland.
The 2,500 shoppers was a vast improvement over 2020-21, but in pre-pandemic seasons during busy summer markets, there have been upwards to 3,500 shoppers, she said.
“Our vendor sales this season are up 26 percent over last year,” Milholland said.
“We celebrate this success and are so grateful for the community support that made it possible. At the same time, we recognize that inflation as well as supply and labor shortages increase operating costs and challenges for local businesses, reducing their profit.
“Some of the farm, food, and art businesses that are loved by our community went out of business or restructured away from the Market during COVID-19. This year has been one of stabilization and new business incubation.
“Now we are ready to work towards growth in support of local small businesses and our community in 2023,” Milholland said.
To aid in that, JCFM has received a $174,941 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers Market Promotion Program. It will disperse the funds over a period of three years.
The grant supports a part-time marketing coordinator position to increase promotion efforts, as well as supporting the development of local farms through training and technical assistance offered by its grant partner, North Olympic Development Council (NODC).
“We contracted with NODC’s Sustainable Agricultural Coordinator, Mark Bowman, to offer JCFM farm vendors, as well as farmers who are working to grow their business to be market-ready, one-on-one support to address their development and stability needs,” Milholland said.
“Farmer training can include anything from creating a land lease agreement to identifying product pricing that covers the cost of production.”
In addition to the farmer training, JCFM is offering a third season of the Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Start-Up Business Fund.
This community-funded small grant provides new BIPOC-owned market businesses with between $500 and $1,500 during their first season of operation to cover some of the costs associated with getting started — a market canopy, weights, tables, permit and vendor fees, for example.
JCFM accepts donations to support the BIPOC Start-Up Business Fund as well as food access programs and market operation.
“Community support helps JCFM continue offering low-bar, low-fee marketplaces that serve new and small farm, food, and art businesses, which in turn create local jobs, stimulate our local economy, and foster the rich agriculture, food, and artisan culture that makes our community unique,” Milholland said.
For more about the program, and other information, see https://jcfmarkets.org.
The JCFM vendor application for the next season will be available by the end of December. Applications for the Port Townsend market, which reopens in April, are due Feb. 1, and applications for the Chiamcum market, which reopens in June, are due March 1.
