September 29

Final Farmers Market today; what's the future?

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The last Wallingford Farmers Market of the season is today in the south parking lot of the Wallingford Center. Warm weather will greet it, and shoppers should be sure to get out to the market to say farewell.

Readers who have been following the story of the market’s future know that this has been a frustrating season for the Seattle Farmers Market Association (who also put on the Ballard, Fremont and other markets) and the Wallingford Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the market. The market wasn’t supposed to stay in the Wallingford Center parking lot; organizers intended it to move to a larger location, but no other sites met all stakeholders’ needs. So the market stayed small and unprofitable this year. (All previous stories on the market are listed at the end of this post, if you need a lot of background.)

Chamber president Kara Ceriello told us recently that they were back at square one with the location and day of the week for the market next year, and feared that it might not return if community leaders couldn’t find a suitable site that met the criteria of all stakeholders.

We also checked in with Market Master Judy Kirkhuff, who affirmed Ceriello’s assessment and addressed concerns that some local businesses had about hosting a market on their street. Two locations — Wallingford Ave. between N. 44th and N. 45th and Interlake and N. 46th — were ruled out because a handful of businesses objected.

You are right, we are at the starting gate again.

SFMA [Seattle Farmers Market Association] is committed to a 2011 Wallingford Farmers Market. We have already begun exploring sites around the district that will be suitable for the farmers market needs.

We will be meeting with the district residents throughout the process as well as with Wallingford Community Council, the Wallingford Chamber of Commerce, the Seattle Dept. of Neighborhoods, and the Office of Economic Development to facilitate our search and decision. We will be as transparent as possible as we go through the many steps of the process, including organizing community meetings and contact with the community newscriers when any kind of option becomes clearer for us.

We’ll be sure to alert you to any developments on the market from now till spring, when we hope to see the Wallingford Farmers Market return to the neighborhood. If you’d like to make suggestions for the SFMA or the Chamber, feel free to leave them here or post on our Facebook page. You can also email Ceriello directly at kara@wallingfordchamber.org.

Previous stories on the Wallingford Farmers Market:

Controversy over farmers market draws big crowd

Community meeting tonight on future of farmers market

Farmers Market expansion “dead,” future uncertain

Farmers Market expanding to Wallingford Ave.

Wallingford struggles to keep its farmers market

Farmers market staying put this year

Wallingford’s farmers market, this year and beyond

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  1. I'm a bit confused about the assertion that the farmers market has been unprofitable this year. Does this mean that the individual vendors are not making a profit, or that the SFMA is not making a profit?

  2. >>Two locations — Wallingford Ave. between N. 44th and N. 45th and Interlake and N. 46th — were ruled out because a handful of businesses objected.<<

    This statement is simply a falsification. “The handful of businesses” were not only not included in the process from beginning to middle to end, they are numerous. Unprofessional site finding is being blamed on the little guy again.

    What do market vendors pay the market organizing organization to sell on their rent-free parking lot or street?

  3. >>Two locations — Wallingford Ave. between N. 44th and N. 45th and Interlake and N. 46th — were ruled out because a handful of businesses objected.<<

    This statement is a simplification. “The handful of businesses” were really only one or two whiners who don't want to participate in healthy community markets. The chamber made numerous attempts to meet in the middle with them.

  4. Has anyone asked the people with the biggest stake in this, the farmers, whether they need more markets? If small scale farms, where the family goes to the market and can only afford to do one or two markets a week, are selling all their produce and going home with empty boxes, fine, but otherwise I wonder if it might be better to focus on the stronger weekend markets.

  5. From the Wallyhood blog: >>Wallyhood said,
    Hey folks, please watch the tone. Disagreeing with someone is OK, but attacking them personally is not.
    Remember, we all tend to be much ruder and more forceful when writing on the Internet than we would if someone was standing in front of us. Also remember that everyone, even people who say things that don’t make sense to you or that you disagree with, have feelings and, I know this sounds corny, but it’s not nice to hurt people’s feelings. It’s also not practical: it won’t change their mind and it will likely cause them to shut down hearing your opinion.
    It’s more difficult to write a rebuttal to someone politely sometimes, but it’s worth it.
    Thanks for your cooperation.<<
    A (presumed) chamber member calling other businesses whiners is really a new low.

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