Vancouver Food Network

Vancouver Farmers Market is currently open on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. featuring local farmers and many other types of vendors. Vancouver Farmers Market runs for 33 weeks so has a longer market season than many in our area.

Since starting as Market Master five years ago, Robert Ray has been using a different approach from most markets regarding booth alignment and displays. It seems to have worked well for the vendors and the customers. Ray’s favorite thing about the market is being outside with the community and says they have the best customers. When asked where the market is going in the future, Ray said he would like to see a better connection with the downtown businesses with perhaps a lane of vendors through Eighth Street making the market a big “L” on Esther and Eighth Streets. He has been working with the City Manager with that idea in mind.

Ray said Vancouver Farmers Market is extremely friendly and clean with close-in parking, and has become a community center on the weekend. Everyone seems to go to the market. He said there is a lot of synergy with business the best it has been in 20 years, up 70 percent from two years ago. More vendors are participating both Saturdays and Sundays, perhaps a sign of the times. The Sunday crowd of customers has responded by increasing though Saturday is still currently much larger.

Vancouver Farmers Market is important to the local economy; the money cycles locally with every dollar spent generating three dollars. Ray said this market alone contributes $2.5 million to our local economy with what the customers and vendors spend at the market and what they spend on the way to and from the market.

A potential addition to the market is a Friday night market with hours anticipated to be 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., it will allow customers to stop and shop for the weekend on the way home from work. Ray is also working with the Downtown Business Association for it to start its own market on Wednesday afternoons.

Contact

Vancouver Farmers Market
505 West Eighth Street
Vancouver, WA 98660
(360) 737-8298

For Further Information

• www.VancouverFarmersMarket.com