Opening Day: Puyallup Farmers’ Market

Our daughter K. lives in Puyallup (pronounced pew-AL-up), a city about 12 miles southeast of Tacoma. The Puyallup River Valley provides great growing conditions that have made the area a prime site for growers of all kinds of produce, and the city has therefore hosted a thriving farmers’ market for 32 years.

It has become our summer tradition to meet K. for a trip through the Puyallup Farmers’ Market followed by lunch. Today was opening day. The market is held from 9:00 to 2:00 every Saturday in Pioneer Park, the center of downtown Puyallup. It’s sponsored by the Puyallup Main Street Association, an organization that “envisions a downtown business district that is alive, inviting, healthy and thriving while retaining its hometown, friendly charm.”

In addition to fruits and vegetables, the market features local artisans offering their products, including candles, soap, tea, wood crafts, jewelry, clothing, knitting, crocheting, honey, jams and jellies, meat, fish and other seafood, and baked goods. Often civic organizations also attend. Today the people from greyhound rescue were there with some of their dogs.

Because spring arrived here about a month earlier than usual this year, there was already an abundance of vegetables at the market:

The other main crop is always flowers. There are endless artistic bouquets available at reasonable prices:

There are flowers and more flowers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

People interested in growing their own vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers can also find starter plants:

We bought some delicious salmon from a fisherman with quite a sense of humor:

And Puyallup is smack in the middle of Seahawks country:

And where there’s a crowd there must be food. You can find just about any food item you like. The Vespucci Pizza oven had a good spot at the place where we entered the park:

There are a lot of items to see at the market, but people watching is also a grand experience. The market is family friendly, and a there are a lot of people pulling wagons full of both kids and purchases. Although dogs are not allowed inside the covered pavilion, lots of people walk their dogs in the uncovered areas. We saw one black Great Dane whose gorgeous coat glistened in the sun.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, with temperatures in the low 60s, to celebrate the Puyallup Farmers’ Market opening. I definitely “like” the Puyallup Farmers’ Market Facebook page. This year we’ll be able to enjoy it every Saturday through October 17.