PORT TOWNSEND — The Saturday Port Townsend Farmers Market will reopen this coming weekend with a goat parade.
“Isn’t this the Year of the Goat? Oh, maybe that was last year. . .” joked Will O’Donnell, Jefferson County Farmers Markets director, in a prepared statement.
“We have three goat dairies coming back to the market this year: Mystery Bay, Harmony’s Way and Whiskey Hill,” he said.
“We will have a number of goat cheeses, goat milk soaps, and it just seemed natural to have a goat parade.”
So baby goats with bells, accompanied by a mama goat, will walk through the market as it opens at 9 a.m. Saturday on Tyler Street between Lawrence and Clay streets.
They will be available for petting after the parade, O’Donnell said.
The opening market of the season will be packed until 2 p.m. with more than 50 vendors offering a mix of produce, arts and crafts and plants, O’Donnell said.
The earlier opening — traditionally, the market has reopened in May — means that more vendors than in the past will offer such spring plants as lettuce starts, blueberry bushes and medicinal herbs for gardens.
“This is the best time of year for planting,” O’Donnell said.
New to the market this season are Dented Buoy Wood Fired Pizza, which last year offered at the Chimacum market pizzas from an oven made from the top half of a dented buoy; the Basketry Studio, which will have handmade baskets for sale; Naked Pottery, offering cookware; and Thorndyke Bay, with woodworks.
Returning are Nash’s Organic Produce and other farms such as Midori, Finnriver, Red Dog, Wildwood and Colinwood, as well as Bob’s Bagels, Mt. Townsend Creamery, Java Gypsy, Sequim Lavender, Mountain Spirit, In Season Catering, PT Coffee and Jennifer Michele’s Chocolat.
Kristin and Otto Smith and Friends will provide the old time fiddle tunes that have opened every market for the last decade.
The Port Townsend Farmers Market, now in its 19th season, was named last year as the best large market in the state by the Washington State Farmers Market Association.
It is one of three markets in East Jefferson County.
The Chimacum Farmers Market will reopen Sunday, May 15 and offer more than 30 vendors from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Sunday through October. It is located at Chimacum Corner, across from the Chevron where state Highway 19 meets Chimacum Road and Center Road.
The Port Townsend Wednesday market will reopen in June and run through September. It will be from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Polk and Lawrence streets.
For more information, see www.ptfarmersmarket.org, email info@ptfarmersmarket.org or phone 360-379-9098.