We’re telling you a little bit early about the April 21st start of the Broadway Farmers Market season because this might be the last time you ever have to wait.

“There is a great deal of interest in having the market go year round,” said Chris Curtis, director of the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance, the non-profit that runs seven markets across the city.

There are also other efforts making the push. In addition to a small “rogue” farmers market that popped up from time to time this winter on the Hill, another group is discussing plans for a “European style street market” near Cal Anderson Park. We’ll have more on that effort, soon.

For now, Broadway’s market is slated to come to an end in December just before Christmas. “We have been asking the farmers if they want and can do year round,” Curtis says of the plans for Broadway. “The majority said they can and would like to be there.”

The “there” when the market opens the Sunday after next will again be the Seattle Central Community College campus along Broadway at Pine. 40 vendors will be there on opening day — Curtis expects that to grow to 50 by summer. We’ll tell you about some of the new faces and offerings, below.

2013 will be the market’s third season in its temporary home as it awaits completion of the Sound Transit light rail project up the street.

By 2016, the market should be tucked into a new home on a transformed Nagle Place behindthe (by then) newly completed Capitol Hill Station — even as the development around the station seems more and more likely to be delayed.

Transportation construction was an important factor in the 2012 season for the market. Work to install the First Hill streetcar tracks made for some logistical headaches for vendors and any shopper hoping to park nearby. Despite the challenges, Curtis says the market’s numbers were strong for the year with both estimates on shoppers and dollars spent rising 10%.

She also said initiatives to spread usage of the Broadway market to a wider diversity of income levels paid off. “Broadway had good response for food stamps use,” Curtis said. $35,000 in local produce and goods were purchased using the stamps. The special WIC program for farmers markets generated another $7,000 in sales. Additionally, the market donated nearly 10,000 pounds of fresh produce to nonprofits and programs for seniors.

In all, there were about 1,800 market shoppers on Broadway each Sunday of the 2012 season.

“It was a really good year,” Curtis said. “This is really healthy.”

2012 also saw the graduation from the market of two of the more popular vendors as both fresh-squeezer Juicebox and Malaysian street food stand Kedai Makan have moved up to the “big leagues” with their fixed-place efforts and will not be part of the Sunday market. We showed you Kedai Makan’s new E Olive Way walk-up here and told you about Juicebox’s bottled efforts and plans for a cafe here.

2013’s food and drink prospect might just be Venezuelan food stand Orale Chamo. Ready to cook up “authentic Venezuelan food,” the stand will feature “Pollo Tinga, Carne Mechada, Mushroom Mole , Alambre Nopalero.”

“Broadway’s going to see some new stuff,” Curtis said. “And some familiar faces.” She also said the legislation to approve beer and wine tasting at farmers markets appears on track to passing through Olympia this session — just in time for summer.

Here’s more on the 2013 season and some of the new vendors you’ll find every Sunday at the Broadway Farmers Market:

Broadway Farmers Market Opens Sunday, April 21
Celebrate Earth Day at the Farmers Market

Opening day our farmers’ tables will be piled high: spring greens, beautiful bouquets, edible plant starts, asparagus, sheep, cow, and goat cheese, fresh eggs, wild-caught salmon, pastured meats, Rachel’s Ginger Beer, baked goods, delicious prepared foods, and much more.

The Broadway Farmers Market will open Sunday, April 21.  The Broadway FarmersMarket helps launch favorite Capitol Hill businesses including Kedai Makan and Juice Box in just the past year, and you’ll find new favorites in our line up this year!

New Vendors This Year Include:

• Cascade Pies – Berry, Apple, Sweet Potato, Salted Caramel, Pecan, Vegan options
• d:floured- a Seattle gluten free bakery –  cookies, tarts, bars and artisan loaves of bread
• Early Bird Eggs – brown and blue eggs from Snoqualmie Valley
• Klickitat Canyon Winery – Syrah, Chardonnay, Lemberger, Merlot, Pinot Gris
• Oh Yeah Farms with ginger, hops, steel cut oats, quinoa and more
• Orale Chamo – Authentic Venezuelan food;  Pollo Tinga, Carne Mechada, Mushroom Mole , Alambre Nopalero
• Six Strawberries –  fruit flavored ice-pops, fruit sorbets, and creamsicles made with coconut milk
• Sno-Valley Mushrooms – cultivated mushrooms; shitake, oyster, lion’s mane
• Steel Wheel Farm– with herbs, row crops and melons
• Sweet and Savory – hand crafted tarts, biscuits, scones, crackers – inspired by seasonal farmers market ingredients
• Youngquist Farm- berries from the Skagit Valley

Broadway Farmers Market is every Sunday, 11 am – 3 pm, starting April 21, at the corner of Broadway Ave E & E Pine.   We accept SNAP, as well as WIC and Senior FarmersMarket Nutrition Coupons.
Like us on Facebook!   www.facebook.com/BroadwaySundayFarmersMarket
The Broadway Farmers Market is operated by the Neighborhood Farmers Markets, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening Washington’s small family farms.  More information at www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org.

 

UPDATE: Food vendor Honest Biscuits wanted us to know they’ll be back at the market this year, too:

We will be back at the Broadway Farmers Market this year. While we do not have any celebrities to kick things off, we do have some exciting new biscuits.

First off, we have some amazing (if I may say so) Gluten Free Biscuits. We bake them on a different day from the rest, so we sell them frozen in 4-packs. RIght now we just have the classic Butterhole (plain buttermilk) and Pike Place (filled with chunks of Beecher’s Cheese).

For a limited time, we are selling the SEA Biscuit, filled with Loki Fish Keta Salmon jerky, Mt Townsend Creamery’s Fromage Blanc, and a bit of capers and onions.

HB also tells us they’ll be able to heat the biscuits this season. Yay.