Sundays have been quiet on a pair of streets near Mercerdale Park since the final day of September.
For four months beginning on June 2 through Sept. 29, the area along Southeast 32nd Street and 77th Avenue Southeast was bustling with vendors, artisans, musicians and heaps of customers who attended the successful 17th season of the Mercer Island Farmers Market for one day a week.
It will soon happen again.
They’ll all step foot upon that familiar terrain for one more day this year from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 24 for the annual Mercer Island Harvest Market, which will also feature the inaugural Great Gourd Showdown gourd-decorating contest.
Mercer Island Farmers Market Manager Ange Garrett provided the lowdown on the gourd gathering.
“It’s really just a community-wide contest where anybody can participate, any age. It’s free, and you just got to show off your creative skills and decorate a gourd and submit it,” said Garrett, adding that there is no registration to enter and there will prizes from the market for the most creative kid and adult entries. “This is just to create a fun time. We’re pretty excited to engage the community in this way because we haven’t done this before.”
Entrants can choose from gourds and decorations provided at the market or bring their own pre-decorated gourd. Sign-in begins at 9:45 a.m., decorating ends at noon, community voting finishes at 12:30 p.m. and winners will be announced at 1 p.m. Decorations offered will include paints, markers, carving utensils, googly eyes, feathers and more.
“I want to encourage people to come early for the gourd showdown,” Garrett said. “And this is the last time everybody’s going to see their favorite vendors until next June of 2025.”
Along with 75 vendors selling fresh produce, homemade goods and more at the farmers market-hosted harvest market, there will be free hot chocolate, kids’ activities, a photo booth, food trucks and live music from guitarist/singer/songwriter and market fan favorite Zach Lombardo.
This recent Mercer Island Farmers Market season drew a little over 40,000 attendees and featured between 60 and 70 culturally-diverse vendors each week, said first-year MI manager Garrett. They had record-breaking numbers in the vendors realm at the 2024 market.
Like last year, they distributed $21,000 in food-assistance Market Bucks at the farmers market through their partnership with Aljoya and Mercer Island Youth and Family Services.
A previous Reporter article noted that the market receives crucial assistance from its sponsors — Aljoya is the premier one — and an abundance of volunteers, including the National Charity League and the National League of Young Men, in order to offer the high-quality event each week. Sponsors, donors and vendors’ fees cover the operation costs.
Garrett, who has spent 20-plus years working in the event planning and management field, grew up attending farmers markets with her grandfather — a 55-year tomato farmer — in Massachusetts.
“It kind of felt like a natural transition for me to engage with farmers and community and event planning,” she said. “I definitely think about my grandfather a lot when I’m at the market. So, it’s pretty good.”
For more information, visit: https://www.mifarmersmarket.org/
