Dates for the 2009 Markets have been set. Details for the times of the markets and location are dtill being determined, but this will give you a head start on your planning!

Sunday, March 15	"Let's Grow Sitka!" spring gardening preparation event, noon to 3 p.m. at ANB Hall
Saturday, May 9	Plant sale, seed swap and planting party, 10 a.m. at St. Peter's Fellowship Farm
Saturday, July 18	1st market, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at ANB Hall
Saturday, August 1	2nd market, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at ANB Hall
Saturday, August 15	3rd market, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at ANB Hall
Saturday, August 29	4th market, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at ANB Hall
Saturday, September 12	5th market, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at ANB Hall
Saturday, September 26	last market with the Running of the Boots, registration 10 a.m., race 11 a.m. at Crescent Harbor

Fundraiser for the Market

Nearly 100 Sitkans dug their XtraTufs out of the closet and painted them up for the 14th annual Running of the Boots on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Crescent Harbor shelter.

The event was part of the Season’s End Celebration, a new event sponsored by the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce. In 2008, the chamber’s board decided to donate the money raised by the Running of the Boots to the Sitka Farmers Market.

So what is the Running of the Boots? It’s Southeast Alaska’s answer to Spain’s “Running of the Bulls.” But unlike the Pamplona spectacle, humans do the running in Sitka and they wear zany costumes and XtraTufs — Southeast Alaska’s distinctive rubber boots (aka, Sitka Sneakers). There also was a lip sync contest after the race. Fresh produce from the St. Peter's Fellowship Farm and donated produce from local family gardens was for sale.

More information about the race's history can be found online at http://www.runningoftheboots.org/, and photos from the 2008 event can be found in the Sitka Farmers Market photo group on Flickr.com, http://www.flickr.com/groups/sitkafarmersmarket/ (you may have to page back to find the photos).

 

Sitka Public Market Established

Sitka's first Farmer's Markets were a huge success. The Sitka Farmer's Markets took place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the last three Saturdays in August - on Aug. 16, 23 and 30 - at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. The markets featured local seafood (fresh, frozen and cooked and ready to eat), locally grown vegetables, live entertainment, locally brewed and roasted coffee, kids' activities, music, local arts and crafts, and a variety of other items gathered or made in Sitka.
Here are some pictures from the first one:

On May 15th of this year a diverse group of Sitkan's participated in a day long planning process where they voted to make a local foods market the top priority. Since then many positive steps have been taken and we have much to celebrate. I'd like to share some new and positive developments and to lay out a rough draft for how we could proceed.

1.) The YABA group and my new pal Ben are looking into making a very cool sandwich board that says "Sitka Farmer's Market" with and arrow pointing to the hall, they have a very talented young artist so I think it will look great and draw people in.

2.) At present we have several tables/ vendors:

1.) Kari and her famous crepes filled with local goodies - salmon, berry's etc.
2.) Co-operative extension with information and locally grown veggies
3.) SEARHC's Diabettes prevention with local jam and important info
4.) Volunteers from St. Peter's Fellowship Farm with picked that morning garden vegetables
5.) SEARHCs WISEGUYS with one of two very local books, garden veggies and maybe a little more

3.) We have some money and new possible donor. At present our account stands at $600 dollars and the possibility of a donor who would cover half of our rent for the ANB Hall. We could spend the money like this:

$400 - fish cart permit inspection license etc.
$50 - fish cart rental
$75 - market master stipend
$75- rent for ANB Hall

I've talked to several people in the last few weeks about the market, when to start, how many to have etc. Almost everyone I've talked to has said have one or two markets this year. Focus on quality not quantity, show people what wonderful thing it can be and then add markets next summer after a winter of planning. With this being our first year, with the almost unanimous support for the 1 or 2 market strategy, with the limited amount of local food we currently have, with our bank account such as it is, I think the quality not quantity approach is the best course. What do others think? Is a 100% increase in the amount of local foods markets, this summer compared to last summer enough?

4.) The Master Gardener class has 14 people signed up and community service hours are part of the program which means that the St. Peter's Farm or maybe even our Farmers Market could get some support. In any event, it's great to know that so many people are in the gardening mode.

As far as how to proceed here is my 2 cents for your consideration:

1.) Merge Farmers Market and Food Security/Community Greenhouse group; focus energy on the market first and foremost
2.) Pick a team leader, recorder and facilitator who will help the group set and enforce the ground rules that will make the rest of our meetings productive/safe.
3.) Select the number of markets to have and the dates to them
4.) Select/Hire a market master
5.) Adopt by-laws and rules for market
6.) Have everyone do outreach to potential vendors and shoot for getting at least __ # of vendors. (what would be a SMART # of tables to make for our outreach goal?)
7.) Decide on specifics ie. time, for more information contact____, etc
8.) Work out a PR campaign to promote the event event the could include: a Weekender, a snazzy PSA on both radio stations, a flyer you could eat (just kidding about that one ;-) ...or am I......yes I think I am.....but I'm not TOTALLY ruling out the possibility of an edible ad.)

Volunteers Needed!

Will you work for food?
The steering committee of the Sitka Farmers Market and St. Peters Episcopal church are having a planting and work party for a new community farm on Saturday June 28th at 10am.

Produce grown at the St. Peters fellowship farm will given to volunteers and featured at the first Saturday Farmers Market which will is being planned for this August or September. In addition to people power, starts, seeds, soil, sand, tools, gloves, refreshments, compost and morale support are all very welcome contributions.
For more information call 966-8734

Many good things have happened.

A.)We got $500 for the first fish market from a State of AK Cancer Prevention/ ed. group, contingent on finding a non profit to accept the check.

B.) I called Father Dave ( see message below) and they have an approximately 50 x 70 feet area behind the Sea House they have been wanted to do a community garden in for years. I am talking to the board tonight about the joint venture possibilities - this could be huge.

C.) I had a good talk with volunteer gardener Jude and National Park Superintendent Mary (who went to the Health Summit) about a raised bed in front of the Russian Bishops house - Jude has been wanted to do another garden for years and was very excited about the possibilities. I'm going to talk to Mary who is looking into it more about it on Thursday

D.) I talked to Eric at the community garden who said we could do another raised bed to grow food for the first farmers market - that is going to be the quickest and simplest way to get local produce for this first market. We'd need people, wood boards and an asap work party to get planting.

Attached is the Chelan schedule which indicates that Sept. 13th might be a good date for the 1st market - it also gives us a little more time to grow - 87 days (my daughters gardening book says that carrots take 100 days so..)

Juneau's first local foods market is on the 30th of Aug. It might be good to have someone attend and bring back some lessons learned.

23 May - A group of eight people attended our first meeting to discuss a fish and farmer's market here in Sitka. Attendees were assigned several tasks to accomplish (among them: determining legal guidelines for a market, identifying and contacting possible venues, and coming up with a resource list of potential vendors and helpers).