Farewell

Reflecting back on my years at the market, there are many funny moments.  You need a good sense of humor to run a farmers’ market and the opportunity to laugh presents itself nearly every week.

The photo shoot for our 2005 spring flyer is particularly memorable. The market moved from SW Capitol Hwy (in front of Casa Colima) to its current location that spring.  We were moving from a main street to a parking lot so we needed to make a big announcement.  The same image came to mind for me and the board – the Abbey Road album cover.  We quickly pulled together all the components of the shoot together, including the red VW Beetle, and set a date for the shoot. We did not anticipate the traffic volume on SW Capitol Hwy. No problem! Board members stopped traffic, took photos, and left before people got out of their cars and started screaming at us. We have had many great flyers but the 2005 poster is my favorite.

Children always provide funny moments and the Power of Produce program has provided many of them. The funniest one for me was a Two Bite Club tasting in 2019. The activity was “Make Your Own Salad”. Children were given tasting samples of salad vegetables from carrots and tomatoes to radishes, kohlrabi, and Harukei turnips. One 7 year old boy sampled the turnip and liked it. He told his mother to taste a sample. Mom was a little hesitant. The boy, with the exasperation only a child can display to a parent, said, “Oh Mom, you need to be more adventurous!”

There are sad memories as well as good ones. We lost a few vendors over the years. Suzanne Brillat of THINK Unique Gardens was a vendor for a number of years.  She was diagnosed with cancer but farmed for a few years before passing. Suzanne always had a witty comment about anything and was one of my go-to sources for gardening questions. Simon Sampson of the Yakama Nation was a long-time vendor at the market selling Columbia River caught salmon. Simon was much loved by vendors, shoppers and market volunteers.  Simon always had a funny story. Simon passed away after a long illness.

Dianna Ponder was market board treasurer when I started in 2004. The market had desk space inside her office so we worked together often. She also helped set up the market nearly every week. Her death in 2010 hit the entire market family and me hard. Joan Quinn was the unpaid volunteer coordinator when I started. Joan, too, was at nearly every market, helping out at the info booth. Joan particularly loved setting up a children’s table with crayons and other activities. We loved celebrating Joan’s birthday in the info booth every June. When her health prevented her from volunteering, Joan still came to celebrate her birthday in the info booth. Josh Kadish filled so many roles at the market: setup volunteer, board member and chair for a number of years, and market musician. Josh was a great volunteer and friend. I miss Josh but love seeing his grandchildren shopping at the market every week.

Farmers’ markets are more than a place to shop and far more than an event. Farmers’ markets shorten the distance between the food source and the dinner plate and show the human faces of agriculture. You can’t help but be more respectful of the food in your house when you know who grew it and how hard they worked to bring it to you.  Farmers’ markets are communities unto themselves, bringing together diverse groups of people who might never meet otherwise.

I love what farmers’ markets bring to the world.  I realized pretty quickly that I had the best job I would ever have in my life. As I quickly approach retirement, I am more certain of that.  It has been an honor to work for the market all these years. You won’t see me in the info booth after this Sunday but you will see me shopping at the market, catching up on the latest farm gossip, and finding out when my favorite fruits and vegetables will be coming to market.