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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Outdoor market flowers in popularity


Jake Mauk restocks his table of honey after a customer buys a jar at the Liberty Lake Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.Jake Mauk restocks his table of honey after a customer buys a jar at the Liberty Lake Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.
 (Holly Pickett/Holly Pickett/ / The Spokesman-Review)

The promise of fresh herbs lured Sarah Martin to an open-air market Saturday in Liberty Lake.

Martin, her two children and a group of neighbors braved wind and gray skies to walk from nearby the Alpine Shores development to browse the market’s organic produce, plants and crafts.

“I love all the plants and come up here for my salads every week,” Martin said.

Local support is spurring the growth of the market, which started with eight vendors and now has more than 30 booths offering everything from shea butter soap and handcrafted pine furniture to fresh honey.

Janet Davis, a Liberty Lake resident of 41 years, started selling her handmade potholders and placemats at the market two years ago.

“Every year it gets busier. When the weather is good, there are lots of families,” Davis said.

According to Holli Parker, director of Spokane Neighborhood Farmers Markets, when farmers start arriving with fresh produce in June, the vendor count moves up to around 40. On Saturday, perhaps because of the weather, the count was about half that.

“Next year, I’m a little worried because I don’t know where I’m going to put everyone,” Parker said.

Spokane Neighborhood Markets Association runs Liberty Lake’s Saturday market and a Sunday market that has 15 vendors who sell produce, plants and crafts on Spokane’s Moran Prairie.

Liberty Lake’s market was started by Parker’s mom, Susan Parker, owner of The Garden Gate flower and gift shop, and her mom’s brother, developer Jim Frank of Greenstone Corp. Frank loans the market space behind his building, Liberty Square, and pays for advertising and entertainment for Spokane Neighborhood Markets.

Vendors pay $25 a year to set up booths in the parking lot, near the library and right in front of The Garden Gate.

“It was so fun, especially the first year,” Susan Parker said. “It was amazing because people would come and sit and eat breakfast and meet their neighbors. It’s like having a big party in my front yard every Saturday.”

Eventually the vendors will take a larger role in supporting the market. In the meantime, Holli Parker explained, the group’s goal is to get the vendors up and running so the market can join the Washington State Farmers Market Association. Membership in the association would make growers eligible for federal grant money.

Spokane Valley’s Patricia Mattson runs The Herb Garden, a business with perennials, herbs and vegetable plants. Her unique mix includes heirloom plants that are started from seeds handed down over decades.

“They’re fun. They have good flavor, and they have good stories,” Mattson said.

The stupice tomato plant, for instance, originated in Europe and pre-dates the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, she said.

Cooks visiting Mattson’s booth can find traditional favorites like basil or take a chance on something adventurous like a rose-scented geranium plant, which has leaves that can be added to white batter cake and sorbets.

Martin couldn’t resist purchasing a pineapple sage plant for her herb garden. She placed her new find in a wagon, next to a bag containing a bundle of organic green onions.

She plans to relish her weekly visits because the open-air market season fades quickly in this region.

“I go through withdrawals at the end of the season when I can’t get my fresh produce.”