Spokane Farmers Market extends season three weeks to sell cold-weather crops

The longest-running farmers market in Spokane will be extending its Saturday operating dates for an additional three weeks, wrapping up for the season on Nov. 22.

The change is a bit of an experiment, Spokane Farmers Market manager Atania Gilmore said. Typically, the market runs Wednesday mornings from July through October and then Saturday mornings from May 10 to the end of October, opening up again the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Now, the Saturday market will extend through November – weather-permitting.

“The farmers have quite a few storage crops, cold weather crops, and it’s a way to sell them,” Gilmore said. “But we also have vendors who, if the weather holds, this is their opportunity to sell. That would be our baked goods, breads, cheeses. I’ve got an Alaskan fisherman, all his stuff is frozen.”

Eric Elithorp, a second-generation farmer for Deer Park’s Elithorp Farms, said that he is in support of the extended dates. On Wednesday, he still had fresh-picked tomatoes, spinach and bell peppers laid out on tables at Browne’s Addition’s Coeur d’Alene Park, alongside some longer-lasting produce, like carrots, squash and onions.

“We should have quite a bit of stuff still,” he said. “It’s like another outlet to extend the season.”

Elithorp Farms sells produce wholesale to some organizations, including Linc Foods and Catholic Charities, Elithorp said, but the farmer’s market is a chance for people to get their produce even more directly.

“Saturday’s definitely a lot more of a market experience for people,” he said. “And people can actually buy from the local farmers instead of just the store.”

Tana Dugan, who has gone to the market for 25 years, swears by Elithorp Farms’ cucumbers.

“When they moved from the Fifth and Brown place – because I could walk there from where I was living at the time – I really didn’t think I’d come,” she said. “But the Mediterranean cucumbers that Elithorp brings in very early in the season are the best cucumbers ever, and I just won’t buy them any other place because they go bad too fast. So that gets me down here and then I pick up the rest of my produce on the way.”

She thinks keeping the market open a few extra weeks is a “great idea,” launching into the pumpkins, potatoes, onions, flowers, and local honey that will still be for sale.

“I just like the fresh food and not having bunches of preservatives in them,” she said. “And it’s just a nice atmosphere – I come early usually. On Saturdays, I come here at 8 because I don’t want to stand in the lines.”