Manzanita Farmers Market

When I first laid eyes on my little slice of heaven that I call R-evolution Gardens it occurred to me that Manzanita needed a farmers market. Here was 5 acres that in my mind was going to be magically transformed from 12 foot tall blackberry tangle to fertile rows of annual veggies and fruit trees. Where was I going to sell all this bounty? Locally. That meant we needed to have a place farmers could gather in our coastal town to offer up the goods on a weekly basis. I had been organizing 3rd Saturday Art Walks in Manzanita as president of the Manzanita Merchants Association (at the time I owned a fair trade store on Laneda Ave.) These art walks were held in the evening in the summer months and featured live music up and down Manzanita’s main ave, free samples of food, art and spontaneous dance, drumming and sidewalk chalk. I thought they were great-but it was exhausting to organize essentially a town wide event over 5-6 blocks every month. I had to stop the overwhelming work of the Art walks but our town still needed a summer evening event with music and art and I now was a budding farmer- so The Manzanita Farmers Market was an idea whose time had come. I was at a meeting of the merchants association being held in the upper level of the Windemere building and all these thoughts were swirling in my mind as we planned for the season ahead. As I gazed out the window I noticed how amazing Kay and Walt Coverts Windemere parking lot was. Located right on Laneda Ave, across from public bathrooms, and with a beautiful tree gracing the middle a lovely shady landscaped lot. At the end of the meeting I asked Kay and Walt if they would consider having a farmers market in their parking lot and they without hesitation said “Yes, we would love that.” That is why we love Kay and Walt! They are amazing community minded supportive folks who subsequently have donated their parking lot and the market’s electricity use for 4 years running. After the lot had been secured it didn’t take long to assemble a crack team of market organizer volunteers. Our market board members were, and continue to be, a great mix of merchants, producers and community folks. Rich Kennedy and Sherri Raschio were recruited from the Lower Nehalem Community Trust’s community gardens- I had a brief stint as the LNCT gardens manager and met these two volunteering their hearts out in the name of local food. Craig Mackie avid gardener and produce manager at Mother Natures Natural Foods jumped on board, Fawn Russo- a natural health professional, yoga teacher and massage therapist joined, Julianne Johnson, Bunny Frost represented our local merchants, local musician Beth Basile volunteered to coordinate all the live bands for the season. What a great team! We organized the vendors, adevirtising and all the little extras like apple adorned matching aprons and pots of petunias for the outdoor seating area. Sherri Raschio worked like it was her daughter’s wedding to make sure opening night was perfectly organized and spectacular. The locals came in droves, the mayor of town arrived on a firetruck and cut the opening ribbon and local Tsunami Drummers played the first of the now traditional opening marketplace drum. The ribboned baskets shoppers were handed were piled full of bread, pies, strawberries, local meats, organic produce, plant starts and homemade soaps. Local burgers made with Lance’s grass fed beef and crepes made with Hank’s strawberries were munched down and the sushi cart had a line down the block. The market was a huge Friday night party and a new local food tradition was born. Some stunning success stories from our first year include: Billie from Nehalem Bay Pie Co. was able to quit her job at the bank and open her dream pie shop (now expanded and thriving year round in Manzanita); Rei Nami Sushi went from cart to downtown sushi restaurant; and after observing our market’s success, the village to our north called Cannon Beach opened their very own farmers market on Tuesday afternoons the following year. We haven’t slowed down a bit since we opened way back in 2006! We now have over 30 vendors, a full time paid market manager, and a new team of board members and volunteers who have the market running like a well oiled farm tractor! I am still on the board and so is Craig, Bill Peek has joined us this year along with Franz Hassalacher of Ekahni Books. Laura Swanson is in her second year as market manager and is doing a fabulous job. In 2010 we were able to close off part of the adjoining 5th street for more vendors, add to our sponsor poles, secure a grant from PUD to light up the market at night and offer a rotating wine and cheese vendor area. I want to thank everyone who has played a part in making this market happen. There are hundreds of volunteers, sponsors, vendors, shoppers, city government officials, business owners, neighbors and especially the farmers who make this a great event to visit every Friday from June- September. I am now farming full time for a living, producing organic veggies for our coastal markets. I feel so fortunate to be able to sell my food to our local community less than 9 miles from where it is grown. Locally grown food is the heart of the sustainable community we are striving to create here on the north Oregon coast. We welcome you to join in to this joyous celebration of the abundant fields, orchards, rivers and pastures of our hom