Farmers Market readies for return

Staple of Moses Lake's warmer months opens next weekend

MOSES LAKE — From June to October, at least once a week, artists, craftsmen and growers will turn Civic Center Park in a paradise of commerce, friendship and fun.

It's the Columbia Basin Farmers Market and Crafts Bazaar, which returns to Moses Lake next Saturday. As always, it won't be just crafts and veggies, but there will be plenty of reasons to attend, co-managers Judy Spalding and Steve Shinn said.

Entertainment will include country performers such as Clare Karres, jazz performers such as Cows Gone Mad, and other numbers like the Old Time Fiddlers, and a group of belly dancers.

Music will not be the only additional attraction at the market. There will be three children's markets June 18, July 17 and Aug.13, where children can come and sell their crafts at no charge to them.

Furthermore, starting on July 13, the market will be open Wednesdays, until Sept. 14. For those with questions about produce, the Master Gardeners will be there, as well.

All in all, a myriad of reasons to show up for an event that has been part of the city's landscape for at least 25 years.

To the co-managers, the key to the market's staying power has different sources. To Spalding, vendors are the key, while Shinn said that it's the vendors' fresh produce week in and week out that brings the masses to Civic Center Park

"Consumers come to realize they want that produce," Shinn said.

There is a social ingredient to the market that attracts the crowds, as well. Not only between customers meeting up at the park but between customers and vendors, as well.

The market is not about just fruits and veggies but it also has some room for crafts to be sold. Shaved ice, soap, birdhouses and many other products have found their way from all over the Northwest throughout the years. And this year, those who come in early will have a friend waiting for them, a friend that has been missing for the last few years and which will make those early mornings more bearable.

"The Noon Moon will be selling coffee at the market," Spalding said. "In past years we have had bakeries, but no coffee."

As is the case every year, the crops sold at the market will vary with the passing of the seasons. At the beginning, there will be crops that tend to grow well in the cold, such as lettuce, radishes and spinach.

And as it has been the case in the past, Shinn will inspect the goods to make sure that they have been grown or produced by the vendors, at least in a 90 percent rate. If a vendor is caught selling purchased stuff, he will be banned from the market for the season.

Even after at least a quarter century of activity, Shinn and Spalding said there is always room to improve.

"We are trying to make it a more family-oriented program," Shinn said, while Spalding added that she would like to see more vendors all the way to the Chamber of Commerce building on Pioneer Way, on the farther edges of the park.

For those interested in coming, there is a $30 membership fee and craft must pay $5 per day, while produce vendors must pay $10.