PORT ANGELES — The Gateway transit center is now the official home of the Port Angeles Farmers Market.
The City Council unanimously approved Tuesday a year-long contract with the farmers market, which has used The Gateway’s pavilion since last summer under a trial run.
The agreement gives the organization exclusive use of the pavilion each Saturday of the year — except for three — and each Wednesday from about mid-June until October.
Under the contract, Deputy Recreation Director Richard Bonine reserves the right to pick three Saturdays on which the pavilion can be reserved for another use.
“We’re always willing to work with people with the space,” said Market Manager Cynthia Warne. “We’re not trying to monopolize the space.”
More customers
Warne said the market has seen an increase in customers since it began using the pavilion.
“We’ve done well there,” she said, adding that the downtown location with a roof and public bathrooms is a significant improvement over the market’s previous location at the Clallam County Courthouse parking lot.
Last summer at The Gateway, the market had about seven more Saturday vendors than the previous year, said Warne, who attributed the increase to former manager Michele d’Hemecourt, who left in June.
Although vendor numbers have increased, a few vendors — Princess Valiant Coffee, wooden toy maker Erwin Barr and The Elwha Apiary — disapproved of the pavilion because of limited vehicle access and have not returned to the market.
Because only one vehicle can be on the pavilion at a time, the market has staggered loading and unloading times and acquired pushcarts for its vendors.
$100 per day
Under the contract, the farmers market pays $100 per day for use of The Gateway, at Lincoln and Front streets and Railroad Avenue.
Bonine told the council that other users will pay the same rate.
The contract, which will be up for renewal next year, also allows the market to reserve nearby on-street parking for vendors to use while loading and unloading and to display a sign advertising The Gateway as its new home.
The move to The Gateway isn’t the first time the market has found a home downtown.
The Saturday market moved from downtown to the courthouse in December 2005 when the City Council voted not to extend its permit to close a block of Laurel Street because of complaints from several merchants nearby. The seasonal Wednesday market, which didn’t close the street, remained at that location until last summer.
Other action
Also on Tuesday, the council approved:
• An interlocal agreement with Clallam County and the cities of Forks and Sequim for collaboration on updating their shoreline master plans.
• A construction easement for the Elwha Valley Road that would allow the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe to relocate city utilities impacted by construction.
• A $79,835 contract, funded by the state, with Statistical Research Inc. to study the origins of landforms — where fill has been used or other changes have been made — on the Port Angeles waterfront as part of the city’s archaeological research.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
