SEQUIM — The Sequim Open Aire Market — which will begin its 15th year in business when it reopens Saturday, May 14 — saw a growth in sales after adding a Wednesday market last year.
Market manager Lisa Bridge said overall sales climbed by 10 percent to $252,200 during the 2010 season, the first year for the Wednesday market.
Comparatively, the 2009 market totaled $233,000 in 2009.
“The Wednesday market helped,” said Bridge, working her second year as manager.
The primary growth was in plants and produce sold, she said, up about 20 percent from $65,000 in 2009 to $80,000 in 2010.
Bridge is co-owner of Rainbow Farm on Towne Road and has a background in farming and farmers markets, including work in the Boston area.
The market has seen considerable growth since the 2006 season, which ended with sales totaling $174,000.
Only the 2009 season saw a decline, to $233,000.
Although it officially opens May 14, the market will be out in force a week early as vendors participate Saturday, May 7, in the Sequim Irrigation Festival, which is scheduled from May 6-15.
Open Aire Market vendors will be next to the Garden Bistro sidewalk restaurant at the corner of North Sequim Avenue and West Washington Street.
Next week, the Saturday market will be in its usual location on West Cedar Street between Second Avenue and North Sequim Avenue. Hours will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with live music from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Wednesday market starts May 18 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Garden Bistro location.
Ninety vendors signed up last year, with about 65 to 70 regularly attending each week, Bridge said.
The largest share of the vendors are arts and crafts, with farms second and the rest being fresh foods and processed foods.
A new farm coming to the market is Simply Edible, owned by Laura Reaves and Bob Maddux.
Nash’s Produce, Lazy J Farm and Westwind Farm will return.
“We’re excited about the 15th year,” Bridge said.
“Last year, we had 26 new vendors, which was a record,” she said. “This year, we have 10 [new vendors].”
They include 12-year-old Cameron Sukert, who will sell tie-dye shirts.
Mayor Ken Hays has been invited to ring the bell marking the market’s 15th season.
“Our vendors are themselves the artists,” said market board President Val Jackson, a technology specialist who is also a vendor selling handcrafted birdhouses, gnome homes and bird feeders.
He pointed to the market’s motto: “Hand crafted, homegrown, it’s what we do.”
Jackson said visitors can get a real taste of Sequim and a feel for the community by walking through the marketplace, booths of which stretch down West Cedar Street between much of Second Avenue and North Sequim Avenue and wrap into the lots next to Sequim City Hall.
Jackson said the market has increased its spending on advertising in local visitors guides and publications.
“I feel like last year, the influx of vendors was because of the economy,” he said, with people needing added income.
The Port Angeles Farmers Market is open year-round on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Gateway pavilion at the corner of Front and Lincoln streets downtown.
The Wednesday market will reopen in Port Angeles in mid-June and run through September. It is in the same same location as the Saturday market , from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
