By Samuel Knight, Reporter
It’s that time of the year again — the time during which islanders begin to gather at the Farmer’s Market on sunny Saturday mornings to purchase fresh produce, hear live music, taste wine and get their knives sharpened.
This year, the market has fresh leadership. After four years as market manager, Caleb Johns stepped down after the Farmer’s Market ended last year, and local resident Perrin Meriwether took over as manager of this longtime island establishment.
Held every Saturday at the Village Green from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Farmer’s Market is a long-standing island hub of business and entertainment that offers a multitude of products and services to Vashon community members. Meriwether has taken on the challenge of managing the Farmer’s Market with an optimistic attitude, and feels ready to use his experience in the food industry to help him.
“My past experience with the culture around food and farming goes back about 10 years,” Meriwether said. “My first job was in a kitchen, so right out of high school I was surrounded by that industry.”
When Meriwether moved to Vashon, he discovered in the the island’s agricultural community a place where he could utilize his knowledge of food.
“Moving to Vashon and feeling the ethos of crafting and farming and small-business-motivation compelled me to connect that with my own experience,” he said.
Before taking the position of manager, Meriwether had worked as one of two market assistants. When the position for manager became available, applying for the role was an easy decision to make.
“I was excited to apply and continue to help the market do what it does best — support local farmers and artisans while acting as a hub for education about, and access to, local food,” Meriwether said.
Meriwether finds the market a perfect place for the island to gather for events and access to local food.
“On a sunny — or rainy — Saturday afternoon, there’s nowhere I’d rather be,” Meriwether said. “It’s great to see everyone you know from different backgrounds come together and cross paths because this special thing [only] happens for four hours, once a week.”
Meriwether is excited the number of people are getting involved — he claims he has seen more community members coming out to enjoy the sunshine this year than ever before. However he is always looking for ways to get more local products at the market and more people involved.
“We hope to put on another island ‘Farm-to-Table’ dinner this year featuring island chefs and ingredients,” Meriwether said. “We have another great kid’s day celebration planned as well as a produce market at Strawberry Festival, the annual jam contest, Harvest Festival, cider pressing and a lot more.”
Meriwether hopes to learn about the capabilities of the market and make it a community where everyone can find something to enjoy. His goal this year is to learn all he can within management and build up his skills for the future.
“I think that with long term planning we can be more ambitious about reaching more people and having more of a presence in the immediate community and the world around us,” Meriwether said. “The more conscious we become as a society about where we buy our food and our products, [the more certain I become] that farmers markets have a long future of impactful existence.”
The market offers an experience that goes beyond food, functioning more as a platform for community gatherings, which can take many forms on any given Saturday. In seeing it that way, Meriwether believes the future can only bring growth to the farmer’s market culture.
This year a variety of events are in store for market-goers that have made it the place to be.
“From our great sponsors and the hard work of everyone in the community, we’ve got local live music every week and a great calendar of events,” Meriwether said.
Meriwether is ready to take on the challenge of managing the Farmer’s Market and finding ways to expand it.
“I sense excitement and evolution around markets like ours,” he said. “I’m happy to be helping do something I think is important.”