Wanolitto: 'Another great year for the best Farmers Market in South King County!'

What a year it was – lots of good weather, great food, music and wonderful people to mingle with, from the shoppers, friendly vendors and the many community groups who helped all season set up and take down the market! It just doesn’t seem possible, but year after year we see an increase in business, and this year is not an exception. Even though we cut the season by a month, we had more sales than last year. Our Wednesday Sunset Markets conintue to grow and we will continue next season as well. A lot of people expressed disappointment in not having our annual Chili Cook-Off, especially after we had to cancel last year because of the severe weather. We are currently talking with community organizations to see if we can resurrect this event next year. Please review below all the upcoming community events thru the end of the year and participate if you can. A lot of volunteers worked hard to put on these events to make our city a wonderful place to live. Our Healthy Eating Initiative program for qualifying seniors had a very successful season issuing over $14,500 in vouchers to 148 participants. The program was brought to you by partners, the Des Moines Farmers Market and King Conservation District. The vouchers were good for fruits, vegetables and processed food products (bakery items, etc). The EBT sales tripled from last year and the Fresh Bucks program was also a huge success issuing $3,000 in vouchers to low income families. Both of these very popular programs will be back next season. The Farmers Market Board would like to thank all the volunteers, sponsors, vendors, patrons and the ever present Marina staff for helping to make this 11^th season, the most successful ever. Board President, Wayne Corey said “the market has become such an integral part of our community and the board will make sure it will continue into the future.” We hope everyone enjoys the holidays and check back for this column starting again in the spring. Opening Day will be June 5, 2017. Here are few snap shots from this season: