PORT TOWNSEND — Closing day of this season’s Port Townsend Farmers Market on Saturday will be something special, promises Market Director Amanda Milholland.
The last day of the 31st season of the Port Townsend Farmers Market will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tyler Street and inside the Port Townsend Community Center at 620 Tyler St., offering music, farm fresh and artisan food, body care products, jewelry, poetry, candles, preserves, hard cider and wine, she said.
“While the winter market months tend to draw both a smaller vendor and shopper base, our closing-day market explodes with activity,” Milholland said.
Vendors
Along with craft vendors well-known to market attendees will be new businesses such as MOTSI Rituals with bath bombs and natural skin care products, Azure with jewelry, Raíces Midwifery with homegrown and sustainably wildcrafted herbal medicine products, and Heartwood Nursery offering locally grown fruit and nut trees.
In addition, youth collective Astra Vela Arts will offer original watercolors, cards, sculpted candles, felted sculptures and other art prints. Find these and other artisan businesses in the community center.
Live music will include Matt Sircely and the Wild Rose Chorale.
On Tyler Street, farmers will offer winter produce, seasonal vegetables well-suited for storage, such as potatoes, beets, turnips, parsnips, carrots, cabbage and kale, Milholland said.
These “do well when stored in a cool environment for months to come,” she said.
Storage or cooking tips are available from farmers or at the Market Information Booth inside the community center.
Shoppers using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefits (SNAP/EBT) can match benefits at the Market Information Booth.
Jefferson County Farmers Markets offers up to $45 in matching funds to a SNAP shopper who spends $40 on their EBT card. In other words, spend $40 and get a total of $85 to spend at the market on fresh, local foods.
The SNAP Match program is offered with support from the donor-advised fund, Love Your Neighbors, Give Jefferson, individual donations, sponsorships from Jefferson Healthcare, KMI, 1st Security Bank, the Food Co-op and Kitsap Bank.
Additional support is granted by the state Department of Health supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).