Redmond's Saturday Market culture (and fresh food source)

This is a picture of Duane at his vegetable market. A young child is admiring one of his cucumbers. Duane is one of 80 vendors at the "Redmond Saturday Market" open from 9 -3pm every week from May 3 - October 25. Duane's friendly smile and table of his fresh, locally grown tomatoes & large display of a variety of potatoes drew me to his "shop". I was hungry, too! Duane farms his organic produce on leased land and greenhouses in Sultan, Snohomish, and Puyallup. Tomatoes ($2.50/pd) have to be kept warm and waist-high to propagate.


Duane's wide variety of potatoes are $1.25/pd. He told me his shallots ($3.00/pd) taste good "caramelized". What's a caramelized shallot? Guess I'll have to pull out a cook book and see what he means. I told Duane my grandfather Yoder's two brothers started up a tomato greenhouse in Ohio that eventually grew into an international crysanthumum propagating business & fresh mushroom business. We had an instant connection.

So, just what is the "culture" of this Market? For starters, Redmond Saturday Market is the "Oldest Open-Aired Market on the Eastside". It's celebrating 33 years! All fresh produce, farm products, high quality crafts and specialty foods sold in the Market must be locally grown or made in Washington. Joanne Westlund's "Market Thymes" semi-annual newsletter has some wonderful news about the Market revealing market culture:

1) Food vendors Jim and Martha and their
children collect fresh produce donations at the market and donate it to a nonprofit, faith-based food bank called "Love, INC". Jim and Martha provide other human services for rent and utility assistance, car repair and clothing. Stop by their Hawaiian Ice and Hot Dog stand and say hi.

2) "Kids Day Selling" is an opportunity for an entrepreneurial or creative child to experience creating a craft and then presenting it to the public for selling! The dates this year for Kids Day Selling is July 19 and August 16. Stop by Joanne's information booth to learn more.

3) Have you ever had a question about what was killing off your plants, getting rid of gophers, or what plant to buy for a special place in your garden? The Redmond Saturday Market has "Master Gardeners" who can help you!

4) Eleven days with music!

You can't miss the Saturday Market (Downtown Redmond, on Leary Way next to Redmond Town Center). Ever since the Marriott Residence Inn closed their parking lot, the hard part is finding parking. Joanne purchased 5 new garden carts to help transport heavy purchases to the Leary loading dock. The best parking is the LWSD and RTC lots.

President and Treasurer of the Saturday Market, Joanne Westlund is a busy lady. But she still finds time to participate on the Redmond Historical Society Board. Her phone is 425-556-0636. Stop by and say hi to her.