Browsed by
Tag: farmers’ market

E-G Farmers’ Market Signs Are Here!

E-G Farmers’ Market Signs Are Here!

Now we need help making sandwich boards for them!

If you have some extra plywood and/or a spare hour or two, we’d like your help. We need to make three separate 2.5′ x 4′ sandwich boards to accommodate the “pointing” vinyl roadside signs pictured below, which will simply be affixed to the front.

EGFM sandwich sign

Let us know if you’re able to help out by using the contact form, or simply drop us a line via e-mail. This is a grassroots operation, and it’s going to take grassroots support to get it up and running. Don’t be shy about stepping forward to donate or volunteer a tiny fraction of your time or materials!

The official press release for the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market has also gone out. If you’re a media-type person who can help spread the word, please download it here as a PDF.

Quarter-page flyers for the market are 99% ready too. In the coming days we’ll be printing and distributing them around the neighborhood (and that means to residents, businesses and churches). We put out an earlier call for some help and some wonderful folks put their names forward — but we could still use a few more feet on the ground. If you’re interested in putting a little bit of time to get flyers into people’s hands — maybe at your own church or workplace? — please e-mail us.

Oh, and big credit to Bri Musser, who created the logo design for the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market. It was sort of deconstructed for this vertical implementation, but the 6′ horizontal banner shows it in all its glory.

Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market Update

Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market Update

First off, our logs show that a number of visitors are coming to the site in search of the vendor application for the new Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market — which, admittedly, is a very encouraging sign. We’ll save you the trouble of looking further. Download it here: http://bit.ly/EGVA2013.

Retro Farmers' Market

There are other signs that we’re gearing up for a strong launch on Friday, July 19. We have a growing list of committed core vendors, and it seems like we’re adding more by the hour. We’ve had interest from quite a few intermittent vendors, too, who will add some week-by-week variety to the mix.

Those vendor names will be announced once all the paperwork is finalized on July 12. (We naturally assume that people are true to their word, but a signature and a check are awfully nice deal-sealers.)

To add a new twist to the traditional farmers’ market, we’ve also been reaching out to area food trucks. These include some Spokane favorites as well as some who are new to the scene. The great space at Knox Presbyterian allows us the opportunity to experiment a bit, and we think that this will offer a great way to showcase Spokane’s growing food truck scene as well as bring a wider range of patrons to the market. (By the way, if you have suggestions about food trucks you’d like to see, e-mail us or leave a comment on this Facebook post.)

Speaking of the space at Knox Presbyterian, please note that the market location has moved from the one we proposed about a month ago. The Adult Education Center on N. Monroe would have offered great visibility, it’s true, but there were a few downsides to the location, not least the red tape in which we quickly became tangled. By working with Knox Presbyterian, we’ve got a dedicated and enthusiastic venue partner, and it puts us in more strategic proximity to the other neighborhood arterials (like Post and Indiana) while only shifting us a single block east of N. Monroe.

In moving closer those arterials, it means that we’ll need proper signage to make the most of them. If you’ve got time, money, or materials (e.g., plywood, hinges, or even a sign shop) to donate, we’d like to hear from you! We’ll be holding a big sandwich-board-making session in the near future, and the more resources and volunteers we have, the better. Ideally, we want two sandwich boards for each arterial.

The last piece in the publicity puzzle will be press releases and flyers. We can handle the press releases, but if you’ve got some time to spare to help us with a bit of flyering, please let us know. We want to make sure that the neighborhood businesses and churches along Indiana, NW Blvd, N. Monroe, and N. Division all know exactly when and where to find the market — and that their employees and congregations are encouraged to stop by on Friday afternoons.

More updates will follow as the market launch date approaches…

W. Central Marketplace Opens Today

W. Central Marketplace Opens Today

Don’t forget to brave today’s rain and check out the opening of the West Central Marketplace. You’ll find it at its new location in A.M. Cannon Park [map], located right behind the West Central Community Center. It runs from 3 to 6pm and will be there every Tuesday until the autumn.

Project HOPE

The Marketplace is a Project HOPE initiative, so it’s focused on two things: fresh, local food and youth empowerment. The organization’s aim is to give young adults in the West Central and Emerson-Garfield neighborhoods a positive, community-oriented alternative to the traps that can often lure low-income and disadvantaged youth. Our neighborhoods benefit in a number of ways — reduced crime and affordable access to healthy food, to name two obvious ones.

And here’s another reason to support the West Central Marketplace: The EGNC is partnering with Project HOPE and benefitting from their expertise in establishing a farmers’ market right here in our neighborhood. (The anticipated launch date is July 19. We hope to have more specific details within the next 24 hours.) By working together and supporting one another’s endeavors, we have a chance to improve both of our neighborhoods in important ways.

Materials for the June 12 EGNC Meeting

Materials for the June 12 EGNC Meeting

This month’s Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council Meeting (and the last one until the potluck in August) will take place this Wednesday, June 12 starting at 7pm in the Corbin Senior Center.

Materials are available from the Downloads page. Or grab ’em here:

We have one presentation scheduled for this meeting. Andrew Worlock begged off (please read his e-mail to the EGNC), but we still have police ombudsman Tim Burns, who will be on hand to explain the The Office of the Police Ombudsman‘s 2012 Annual Report and answer questions. (Some recommendations from that report can be found here.)

The August 14 potluck in Corbin Park is approaching faster than we might like, and folks are needed to bring/donate cutlery, tables, hot dogs and burgers (and buns), as well as make and distribute flyers — so please have a think about how and what you might contribute. On a completely unrelated note, we’re also going to be voting on a new head for our Neighborhood Planning Committee.

The launch date for the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market is July 19. As such, we have a lot to discuss in terms of recent developments and what remains to be done to ensure a successful inaugural event. On another completely unrelated note, the EGNC ought to determine where it stands on forming a non-profit: Do we pursue it, or do we partner with other non-profits instead?

On top of all that comes the usual organization updates (Corbin Center, Emerson Community Garden), crime reports, and announcements. We hope to see you there. And as always, everyone who lives, works, or owns property in Emerson-Garfield is encouraged to attend!

Emerson-Garfield Farmer’s Market

Emerson-Garfield Farmer’s Market

[Update July 18: A lot has changed since we first posted this back in May. For starters, we had to seek a new location. So please consider what you read below to be history. The dedicated Emerson-Garfield Farmer’s Market page with all up-to-date info is here.]

With kind assistance from Melissa McNabb, the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council has just arranged use of the parking lot in front of the Adult Education Center (part of the Institute for Extended Learning) on N. Monroe. We hope to organize a weekly farmer’s market there during the growing season, which runs roughly May to October.

Adult Education Center

The location is ideal. The parking lot is directly across from Caffe Delicio and the Vintage Rabbit Antique Mall. Highly frequented bus stops at the corners of Monroe and Montgomery will allow for easy public transit access, and the central location within the neighborhood means that cyclists and pedestrians will also find it convenient. Commuters who work downtown will be able to stop off quickly for fresh veggies and gourmet items on their return journey.

Right now we are looking for interested vendors. Since our focus is on the local, we want to make a point of involving neighborhood stores like Petunia’s Marketplace and Christ Kitchen to ensure that there is a wide range of food available. Another aim is to provide owners of nearby retro and craft stores — like The Heart of Spokane and Paint in My Hair — with the chance to set up booths and sell market-oriented items. And depending on the quality of quantity of the harvest, we might even have super-local produce from the Emerson Community Garden for sale.

To help bring this to (quick) fruition, we will be reaching out to Craig Goodwin, author of Year of Plenty and founder of the successful Millwood Farmer’s Market, to see what advice he can offer.


View Larger Map
If you are interested in participating in the farmer’s market, helping to organize it, or simply shopping there when it’s ready, please get in touch with us by using our contact form or by leaving a comment below.