Head to the Uptown District on for the opening of the 23rd season!
Washington Secretary of Health, John Wiesman, will cut the ribbon to open the 23rd season of the Port Townsend Farmers Market on Saturday, April 4 at 9am, followed by the annual Goat Parade, featuring flower-festooned fiddlers, kids (both four-legged and two-legged) with their parents, and of course shoppers, all strolling through the market.
Secretary Wiesman is making the trip to Port Townsend to help celebrate the market opening while promoting his “Healthiest Next Generation” initiative. The goal is to help our children maintain a healthy weight, enjoy active lives and eat well by making changes in early learning settings, schools and communities. Port Townsend already has a head start in meeting a number of the initiative’s goals.
In the last few years, more and more fresh and healthy local produce from Port Townsend Farmers Market growers has made its way to the menus at Jefferson Healthcare and recently into the cafeterias of the Port Townsend schools.
Chef and Director of Food Services, Arran Stark of Jefferson Healthcare, has been a key part of the market’s education program. In addition to building a menu at the hospital that is healthy, tasty, and local, he teaches classes on how to cook local and healthy on a small budget. Chef Arran will give an opening day seasonal vegetable cooking demo in the market’s music tent at 9:30am.
Visitors to the Port Townsend Farmers Market will find lots of seasonal produce: from greens of all shapes and sizes to leeks, potatoes, and lots more. The mild winter and warm spring has led to an early bumper crop of tulips, which will be available by the bucket-load on opening day. Eggs will be in abundance, along with local beef, pork, chicken, lamb and salmon, all direct from the producer or fisherman.
The Port Townsend Farmers Market is open Saturdays from 9am to 2pm, located Uptown on Tyler St. between Lawrence and Clay. For more info, go towww.jcfmarkets.org.