SEQUIM — They’re postponing the holiday thing and lengthening the current season. With an abundant harvest and a new cook eager to hand out samples, the Sequim Open Aire Market is lasting longer this year.
The 14-year-old market, on Cedar Street between Second and Sequim avenues, traditionally ends by the middle of this month with a “Christmas in October” day of holiday-gift-oriented vending.
‘Concentrated’
And those “Christmases” were successful enough, but market manager Mark Ozias, wanting to celebrate the local harvest while it’s fresh, is hosting what he calls a “concentrated” market this Saturday and on Oct. 17, 24 and 31.
Instead of the usual 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. hours, vendors will set up from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The star of the show may well be Shara Truett, the newly hired farmer-chef-intern at Nash’s Organic Produce in Dungeness.
Cooking demos
Truett will give cooking demonstrations throughout the three-hour market, starting this Saturday with beet-and-hummus sandwiches, a Waldorf salad with local apples and fennel and green smoothies.
What, you may ask, is in a green smoothie?
She isn’t certain. Kia Armstrong, Nash’s outreach manager, “just kind of threw that at me. So I guess we’ll find out,” Truett said.
Cooking demonstrations aren’t something she’s done before. But Truett, a graduate of Humboldt State University in California, likes a little adventure.
She’s worked a variety of jobs, from baker in Seattle to Olympic National Park ranger and environmental educator.
“If people are looking to expand the variety of vegetables and fruits they use in their kitchens, and they want to have fun, they should come on out,” to the Saturday market, Truett said. “I’m going to have a couple of things for people to try.”
Lunch dishes
Her demonstration this week will focus on lunch dishes; on Oct. 17 she’ll cook breakfast, featuring sourdough pancakes; Oct. 24 will highlight dinner and on Oct. 31 Truett will whip up a dessert. All courses will be made with as many locally grown ingredients as possible.
Sequim-area growers, such as Nash’s and Lazy J in Agnew will be at the market offering those ingredients.
Other vendors include the Family Farm, a flower and vegetable operation on Old Olympic Highway, and A New Leaf, a Happy Valley farm. Local honey, chocolate, cheese and fish will also be available.
“Customers for several years now have wished [the Open Aire Market] didn’t have to end,” in mid-October, Ozias added. Those who use the Senior Farmers Market Voucher Program coupons for fresh produce were among those happy to learn of the extension, since some still had vouchers to spend.
Way to connect
Ozias, who promotes the Open Aire Market as a way to connect with neighbors and buoy the local economy, is working on one more market day on Nov. 21, to offer local-food choices for Thanskgiving.
And with “Christmas in October” a thing of the past, Ozias is already planning the Indoor Home Holiday inside the Sequim Boys & Girls Club from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 27 and 28.
Last year’s November market was just a one-day event, and “we had spectacular attendance,” he said.
In fact, Ozias added, all three of the market’s indoor shows over the past year, in April, February and November, drew enthusiastic crowds.
“Our market vendors have been overwhelmed,” he said, “by the support from local residents.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.