Bellevue Farmers Market celebrates 10 years | Vendors offer fresh take, chance to meet your meat

The Bellevue Farmers Market is back on Thursdays at Bellevue Presbyterian Church on Bellevue Way NE.

When a new senior pastor at Bellevue Presbyterian Church arrived around a decade ago, he challenged his parishioners to take the mission of ministry beyond the sanctuary and into the community.

For Lori Taylor, the message came through loud and clear.

Taylor, who has attended First Presbyterian since she was an infant, took the opportunity to get closer to her own family’s roots, establishing what was at the time the first farmers market in Bellevue.

“I have a grandfather and grandmother who were dairy farmers in Wisconsin,” Taylor said, adding she used to take cross-country train rides to help them during her summers as a child. “The products are different from at your local store because you’re talking to the person who grew it and buying directly from the producer.”

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Last week the market celebrated the beginning of its 10th anniversary season and brought out dozens of conscious consumers for grass-fed and organic meats, ciders and other drinks devoid of preservatives or additives and produce and greens picked only hours earlier.

For farmers and other small businesses with an emphasis on organic, locally sourced food, it is a chance to bring their products to a population increasingly aware of where its food comes from and more importantly, how it got there.

Luisa Famulski, who moved to Bellevue from Canada five years ago when her husband took a job at Microsoft, said her family looks for organic and all-natural products in chain grocery stores in the area during the months when markets are not operating. But even that is no match for the face-to-face connection built at the farmer’s market.

“We try to buy organic at QFC,” she said. “But it is great being able to talk to the growers and producers about how they are raising the animals.”

Skagit River Ranch has a similar focus and has been coming to the Bellevue market for several years. The Sedro-Woolley farm features a wide variety of 100 percent grass-fed, organic meats raised under humane conditions, and also offers organic chicken and eggs.

While the many cuts of beef and lamb are undeniably popular, Betty Crippen said it is the bacon that brings the familiar faces back to the booth year after year.

“People swear up and down they get hooked on it,” she said of the bacon, adding it is cured with a special family recipe from farm owners George and Eiko Vojkovich. “It is all pork, no nitrates, and people buy four or five packages at a time.”

Taylor said initially, persuading Bellevue’s older generations to forgo convenience for ideologies like sustainability and humane conditions for animals was a tough sell. But as the tech industry has exploded and brought young professionals from across the globe to the Eastside, the open-air feel of the market along with the principles of its vendors has made it a true destination during spring and summer months.

“The Millennial is a different buyer, they are an intentional consumer,” Taylor said. “They care about the environment and they are the ones who are drawn.”

Taylor said she has worked closely with the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance, a group that facilitates seven markets in Seattle including one in the University District that is the highest grossing in the entire state.

With a perpetual customer base in local students, that market operates year-round and Taylor said after watching her own market grow exponentially in both offerings and community participation, the possibility for growth is greater than ever.

“With such a fast-paced society in Bellevue, it is a place to slow down and have a connection and community,” Taylor said of the market. “People tell us it is the highlight of their week.”

The Bellevue Farmers Market is open every Thursday until Oct. 10 at Bellevue Presbyterian Church, 1717 Bellevue Way NE, 3-7 p.m. The market will operate on Saturdays as well from June 8 to Nov. 23, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at NE Sixth St. and Compass Plaza. Find out more at bellevuefarmersmarket.org.