James Bernston of Radicle Roots Farm, a small outfit in Snohomish, displays radishes and other produce during the 2020 Snohomish Farmers Market.
Doug Ramsay
SNOHOMISH — Despite the peak of the Coronavirus outbreak, the Snohomish Farmers Market managed to sustain success in the midst of an economic shutdown. The 29th season, although difficult at times managed, to see an attendance boost that “blew the socks off” farmers market manager Sarah Dylan Jensen.
“Early on, we were one of the only things, too, that was allowable to go out and do and it was different than, you know, going to play golf or something like that,” Jensen said. “But I think it was just, we got really lucky with the weather being pretty kind to us and the fact that we could provide a safe place to go out and people to support their local farmers and businesses, I think that played a big role in it.”
The Snohomish Farmers Market carried out the 2020 season at Stocker Farms. The highly visible location made for a successful year, bringing in first-time visitors from Everett, Mill Creek, Clearview, and other surrounding towns.
“I think it was a combination, definitely the location helped for those people that were traveling on Highway 9 and not realizing either that market season had started or that we were going to be there,” Jensen said.
The farmers market was able to safely carry on due to the nature of it being outdoors, but because of health district guidelines the market’s normal location, at the corner of Cedar Avenue and Pearl Street, was too small to fit the normal amount of vendors.
“The Health District guidelines that we were going to have to follow indicated that we would need to spread out and base our vendors at least 10 feet apart in between each tent,” Jensen said. “You know how downtown is, that would mean we would have had to eliminate over 50% of our vendors to do that. We can generally fit about 100 booths, not including food trucks, in that space.”
According to Jensen, the market averages 65 to 90 vendors every week, and having to cut down on the number of vendors was not something the market was interested in doing.
The farm made it possible for vendors to spread out as well as keep control of capacity due to the single entrance and exit point.
The switch in locations “kinda came out of (the Stockers) inviting us to do so, I am fairly good friends with them,” Jensen said. “We had a pretty open space to be able to expand and contract if anything were to change.”
The economic hardships many faced and are currently facing because of the pandemic can be attributed to many new customers seen at the market this year.
“We provide access to fresh local food for those that are on food benefits which a lot more people were on food benefits and unemployment this year, so we saw a huge spike in those numbers as well,” Jensen said.
The Snohomish Farmers Market worked with the state Department of Health and the Washington State Farmers Market Association, printing and distributing flyers to advertise the new location and that the market was open despite complications.
“(The flyers were) distributed at the offices where people would get help, as far as financial help for food stamps and I think that helped as well. Because we were seeing people from not just Snohomish, which is pretty typical, but you know, Clearview and Mill Creek and Everett (people) coming over to see us,” Jensen said.
The market is open from the first Thursday in May to the last Thursday in September. Despite great attendance numbers in May, as the summer went on, attendance dipped.
“I think as more things opened and the summer, kind of allowed people to go back into parks and things like that, you know, it’s typical to see a little bit of a downturn with something like that,” Jensen said. “Given everything we experienced, I’d say it was a success just to make it happen.”
Although thankful for their temporary location, the market looks forward to being back on the corner of Cedar Avenue and Pearl Street in 2021 for their 30th season.
“I know that I’ve heard from the businesses downtown as to how much they really missed us and we really missed them too,” Jensen said. “It’s just kind of a collaborative effort to really bring business and drive business downtown, not just for us, but for our neighbors, too.”
