The Dalles Farmers Market Builds Community
By Rodger Nichols
The first Saturday in June marks the start of a remarkable transformation of City Park in The Dalles. Vehicles pull in and start unloading, and a sea of canopies quickly appears. They are filled with tables laden with fresh-grown local produce and handcrafted products. It’s The Dalles Farmers Market, and this month marks its 23rd year—the 17th in City Park.
Barbara Pashek, Hugo Lutz, and Marlene Lutz were among the original founders in 2003, and the market tried out several locations before settling in City Park in 2009. The park is under the supervision of the North Wasco County Parks & Recreation District.
The Farmers Market pays $500 a year to use the park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday from the start of June to the second Saturday in October.
Eileen White has been the market’s director since 2014. Under her leadership, the market has grown from about a dozen vendors to more than 40 on peak days.
“1 compliment I get all the time is that it’s so nice to see a farmers market that has farmers,” Eileen says.
Vendors must be based within 150 miles of The Dalles and sell only products they have grown or raised themselves, or products that they have personally made, preferably with local materials. Sponsors and nonprofit organizations may set up information booths.
“The barrier to becoming a vendor is not as onerous as some people think,” Eileen says. “As long as someone meets our criteria, I’ve never turned away a vendor. The more the merrier. We have a lot of space in City Park.”
There is plenty of flexibility in the system. Vendors are not required to sign up for the whole season. Some join later in the year, as crops mature, and any can drop in and out as needed. Their investment is a 1-time $40 upfront fee and $25 for each Saturday they attend. There’s no requirement to be a full-time farmer to sell produce.
“If you discover you have more zucchinis than friends, come on down,” Eileen says.
1 of Eileen’s tasks is to assign spaces.
“We have a marvelous program called MarketWorks, which gives a market map where I can digitally assign people,” she says. It’s also a benefit for the public. “If you go to our website and click on ‘weekly market map,’ you can see where vendors are going to be. If you click on that location, you get their profile.”
The market operates with a working board of 7 members who serve staggered 2-year terms, 3 of those ending this year and 4 next year.
“We’re always looking for volunteers and board members,” Eileen says.
The board offers a fun bonus for children who sign up for the Under the Power of Produce program for the first time they visit. Each week, they get a $2 token to use on produce throughout the market.
“It promotes healthy eating, and they learn an apple is the ultimate fast food,” Eileen says.
There are extras for adults as well. “A lot of folks don’t know that people can run their SNAP card, aka food stamps, there,” Eileen says. “If someone runs their card for $20, we have a grant where on the first $10, we give them an additional $10 worth of tokens that can be used on any SNAP-eligible item.”
The Double Up Food Bucks program is sponsored by a farmers' market fund. The first 20 people to use their SNAP cards can get $20 in additional produce.
“This also helps our farmers,” Eileen says. “When someone buys directly from a farmer, the farmer keeps 72% more than if there’s a middleman.”
The market welcomes local musicians. “We don’t pay them, but they are welcome to set up a tip jar and to sell CDs or band merchandise,” Eileen says. “Last season, we had 19 market dates, and we had 13 musicians. We also realized how dead it gets once the musicians stop playing. So, we got some Bluetooth speakers donated by 1 of our sponsors, Avalon Biosage, to keep the music going.”
Eileen points out how farmers' markets benefit the whole community.
“If you spend $100 at a farmers market, $62 stays in the community, and $99 stays in the state,” she says. “If that same $100 is spent at a supermarket, only $25 stays in our community. Not only are we getting healthy food to our more vulnerable, but it’s also keeping money in our community that then tends to magnify.”
There is an important social factor at play, as well. “When someone shops at a supermarket, they have an average of 3 interactions with people,” Eileen says. “At a farmers market, they have an average of 10, which helps the social benefits and mental well-being of our community.”
She says the average item of produce in this country travels 1,500 miles and takes 7 days to get to the supermarket.
“That’s not so at a farmers market, plus you’re eliminating the packaging,” Eileen says. “The produce is much fresher, so it keeps longer because it hasn’t traveled that 7 days and sat for another 7 days on the shelf."
Eileen says the farmers' market can make The Dalles more food independent. “If folks bought just 20% of their meat and produce locally here in the Gorge, that would keep $9,600,000 in our economy,” she says. “As it is, 98% of the food we eat here in the Gorge comes from elsewhere, and that leaves us very vulnerable to natural disasters. We’ve all seen when there’s been a snowstorm or other problem that closes I-84, how empty the shelves can get.”