Going strong for 10 years

Peninsula Farmers Market takes place through

Sept. 30.

It was a chilly start to the Peninsula Farmers Market’s season, but happy market-goers bundled up and perused the tomato plants and jewelry regardless.

The Peninsula Farmers Market in Silverdale opened for the season Tuesday and people turned out to see what local vendors had to offer.

Tuesday’s farmers market drew roughly 15 vendors, but Peninsula Farmers Market owner Monica Phillips said once the season gets rolling, more than 30 vendors will turn out to sell their produce, crafts and artwork.

“We just have a little bit of everything. We don’t have much duplication from booth to booth,” Phillips said.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Peninsula Farmers Market and Phillips said she plans to celebrate the milestone throughout the season.

“I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for 10 years,” she said. “We will have special events throughout our year, our season.”

Peninsula Farmers Market will host a Mother’s Day event May 6 where children can create edible gardens to take home with them. Phillips said the market will host a Father’s Day event June 10, pie contest August 12 and a fall festival Sept. 16. The Peninsula Farmers Market’s third annual lavender festival will be July 15.

“It’s amazing to me that we’ve had it 10 years and it keeps growing,” Phillips said.

The Peninsula Farmers Market started at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds and eventually moved to its current location, the Silverdale Beach Hotel parking lot.

Phillips said now through the end of September, Peninsula Farmers Market will have a variety of produce, including 60 varieties of tomatoes, crafts, artwork, beef jerky, homemade bread and pastries, jams, jewelry and homemade sodas.

“We have the best variety of produce and plants and we have high quality crafts and art,” Phillips said. “We also invite vendors from Eastern Washington to sell with us. We’re not restricted just to our local area, we get the variety of produce.”

One vendor offers three tomato plants for $9 and Phillips said deals like those are hard to find.

“You can’t get that at a nursery,” she said. “That’s amazing. You can’t find that at any store.”

The Peninsula Farmers Market is held on Tuesdays because farmers pick crops midweek in order to sell them on Saturdays, Phillips said. The Tuesday markets ensure that farmers do not have to throw out some of their midweek pick.

Phillips said the Peninsula Farmers Market is searching for a permanent location so vendors won’t have to pack and unpack their goods each week. The farmers market also would be able to include more vendors if it had a bigger location to house them. The current location is filled to capacity with 32 vendors.

“We’re still looking for a permanent place, but as long as the hotel will let us be here, we’ll be here,” Phillips said.

The Peninsula Farmers Market is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays in the Silverdale Beach Hotel parking lot.

“Rain or shine, but we ask for shine,” Phillips said.

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