Two new locations for Tacoma Farmers Market, plus Angolan treats and savory crepes
Tacoma Farmers Market returns to its flagship station on Broadway May 4 and in June will launch its two other markets in new locations — and one on a different day.
As the largest of the three main markets, Broadway brings dozens of farmers, florists, prepared-food vendors, including favorites Gateway to India and Balloon Roof Baking Co, and more downtown between 9th and 11th streets every Thursday through the end of October. Enjoy live music, courtesy of sponsor KNKX, on the first market of each month.
The market has been serving downtown since 1990.
Last year, the Eastside market was in flux, forced to move from its parking lot in McKinley Hill to the Eastside Community Center on 56th and Portland. The temporary outpost was serendipitous, it turns out, as the market fostered a relationship with Metro Parks Tacoma.
For 2023 — and, hopes executive director Britt McGrath, for the long-term — the Eastside market will call Stewart Heights Park home. The market has switched days, swapping Tuesday for Friday evenings.
“We’re hoping that the location at Stewart Heights is a good destination for families, kind of a Friday evening activity spot,” McGrath told The News Tribune in a phone call.
She also highlighted the park’s middle-ground between the Eastside and the South End, making it perhaps more accessible to residents of the broader South Tacoma community.
The move to Friday was a strategic decision.
“There are not many Friday markets — we saw a need,” she said.
TFM also operates a market outside Tacoma General Hospital just during the month of August. It was previously in the Rose Garden on Friday afternoons, but starting this year, it will run on Tuesdays in the parking lot off 5th Street. This event tends to attract a big lunchtime crowd, said McGrath, so the swap made sense.
SUNDAY MARKET MOVES TO DUNE PENINSULA
The popular Sunday market also has new digs for 2023.
Since launching in 2017, it had spread out in the Grand Plaza at Point Ruston. Last summer, the market encountered a messy snag with the Point Ruston development, which was resolved — but not without kicking up some dust.
Following a feasibility study with a focus on understanding what vendors wanted and needed from market locations, TFM decided to partner with Metro Parks again. The Sunday market will now run at Dune Peninsula starting June 11. (The market will debut the weekend prior, June 3-4, at the Rose Garden in conjunction with the garden festival at Point Defiance).
“We’re happy to be back in a Tacoma location with Metro Parks again as a great partner,” said McGrath. “It’s gorgeous over there.”
The space notably allows plenty of room for prepared food vendors, a draw on leisurely Sunday afternoons.
She also pointed to the significance of hosting a farmers market on a swath that had previously been a contaminated smelter facility: “That is completely full circle to being a great story.”
To commemorate the new locations, TFM invited one of its interns, Piper Smith, a high school junior at the Science and Math Institute of Tacoma Public Schools, to illustrate new logos. Dune Peninsula’s features snap peas with dainty purple flowers, and the Eastside market boasts a red strawberry.
The Broadway market’s symbol has long been a sunflower, while MultiCare’s shows a cauliflower and Fresh Express, TFM’s mobile market that supports bringing fresh produce to food-insecure areas, has tomatoes on the vine.
Most markets accept SNAP/EBT, WIC and Senior Nutrition Vouchers, and the SNAP Market Match program is valid for fresh produce, herbs, mushrooms and edible plants.
TFM accepts vendor applications for each of its markets on a rolling basis, and McGrath expects to announce a few additional names in coming weeks. Here are a few of at least 11 new vendors that have already signed on:
ESANJU BITES
A mother-and-son operation, Esanju Bites crafts Angolan desserts and other snacks including paracuca ($6-$15), peanuts roasted with sugar and salt — which they describe as “a snack you can’t put down.” Their Anzac biscuits, a popular oat cookie made with golden syrup and coconut in Australia and New Zealand, are inspired by the family’s time in Papua New Guinea (four for $8).
CUT THE CREPE
Annalise Dauble and Christopher Owen will bring sweet crepes and savory galettes, the latter using traditional buckwheat flour, to the market. Ingredients focus on the region, such as in the chanterelle, cheese, tomato and chive galette and a blueberry mascarpone crepe.
LITTLE MISS SWEETS NYC
Known for her flan, New York-style cheesecake and tres leches, Lydia Mendez bakes gluten-free treats she learned to love growing up in Brooklyn. She launched a multicultural food festival two years ago called Savor Fest (returning July 16 to the Waterfront Market in Ruston), but this will be her first year at Tacoma Farmers Market.
LAKE HOLM LAVENDER FARM
Jackie and Andrew Szarka join the Broadway market from their 5-acre farm in Auburn, where they grow nine cultivars in a range of violet hues. In addition to the classic dried lavender bouquets and essential oils, Lake Holm Lavender Farm will also stock reed diffusers, candles, tea blends and lavender decor like wands and wreaths.
Returning favorites to the market include Balloon Roof Baking Co., Adam’s Mushrooms, Amador Farms (produce), Hilltop Fryer Farms (eggs), Yeng’s Flowers, and Mr. Texas BBQ. Burrito Boy and Gateway to India will serve prepared dishes, as well as Galileo’s wood fired pizza.
TACOMA FARMERS MARKET
▪ Broadway: 9th to 11th St., Thursdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m., May 4-Oct. 26
▪ Dune Peninsula: 5361 Yacht Club Rd., Sundays 11 a.m.-4 p.m., June 10-August 27 (no market July 2 or Aug. 6)
*Find TFM at Point Defiance Rose Garden June 3, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and June 4, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
▪ Eastside: Stewart Heights Park (near tennis courts and pool), 5715 Reginald Gutierrez Ln., Fridays 3-7 p.m., June 2-Aug. 25
▪ MultiCare: MultiCare Pharmacy, 315 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tuesdays 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Aug. 1-29
▪ Fresh Express Mobile Market: multiple locations, visit tacomafarmersmarket.com/fresh-express-mobile-market for details
