VENDORS GET FIRED UP TO SELL EVEN MORE

Tonight our vendors all gathered at a meeting in South Park to talk about what is working at the market and what still needs some work. We planned a big push in advertising and getting the word out. We talked about making the market open longer hours next year and more often.

We talked about healthy foods being added to the prepared booths. About adding some vegetarian options. We talked about more produce and our produce vendors not overlapping items. We talked about trying to get refrigeration and having someone selling cheese and milk. Eggs, well, those are hard to do with health codes, sorry.

Great ideas emerged and what you will see this next market is a jazzed group of vendors wanting to make the market your place to shop. Instead of giving coupons, we talked about just making sure we give a quality product at a quality price.

You will also see signs stating the products and their costs. And more of those great ads we’ve been sending out. Really this learning curve for the market has been a great success for us all. We truly are working out the bugs to be one of the greatest markets in Seattle. We may be small, but we are different and we have some great stuff to offer.

So join us on the third Saturday of August, that’s August 15th from 10am to 3 pm for the next Market on Wheels. We are located on the corner of 14th & Cloverdale in South Park in the Napoli’s Pizza parking lot. And then come back on September 19th for more.

KICK IT UP AT THE MARKET TODAY

Today is the big day and even some fun things have been added to the play list.

In addition to our normal booths of food, arts, produce, service booths, pet food products, and more we are adding the following:

• OAXACAN BAND playing from Noon to 2pm

• We are adding TABLES AND CHAIRS to sit and relax or even eat at.

• Kid’s INFLATABLE JUMPING TOY

• SIDEWALK CHALK for the kids to draw with.

• MUSIC in the background when no band is playing

• Natural organic healthy FOOD SNACKS booth

• Booth selling VITAMINS

• Booth selling PASTRIES & BREADS

And because summer is more in swing, you will find even more selection of fruits , veggies & flowers.

Organic, pesticide-free and non-organic options for more budgets.

And again, Acma Farms accepts WIC, EBT and SENIOR COUPONS (we hope to add this for the entire market next year)

We hope that means something for everyone.

Our returning vendors also looked for what was working and what wasn’t and are trying to make sure the change
things up a bit to keep it all fresh.

And if you want to ask for your food in Spanish, the SPAA has agreed to help us learn some phases, so stop by their booth first.

And the weather is suppose to be in the low 80s, so wear your sunblock.

See you tomorrow, Saturday, July 18th from 10am to 3pm 14th & Cloverdale/ Napoli’s parking lot.

APPROXIMATELY 500 VISITORS

Opening Day was a success in our eyes. We did an unofficial count of visitors and figure we clicked in approximately 500 people who joined us for the day.

The day started early at 7:30 and we chalked out the parking lot for the booth spaces. Due to rain the day before this had to be last minute. But it all worked out and vendors started showing up at 8am to start setting up. The rain held off and the sun even came out at the end.

I think we learned a lot and I think the vendors did too. Now we will take that knowledge and figure out what to do to make next months market even better. The great thing about starting out a market slow like this is we get the chance to have some time in between to perfect it, try things another way and see. Then when you figure out your niche and what sells best and what doesn’t, you have a recipe for success and we all win.

I ate yummy enchiladas, roasted corn on the cob, jicama on a stick with sugar & chilies, tamales and ice cream popsicles. What a day. I took home cilantro, cherries, avocados, watercress, beets, onions, rice, bath salts and earrings. And on top of all that I met some great folks and neighbors. I put faces to names and enjoyed hearing about how each vendor did at the end of the day.

All in all a success I think. So join us on July 18th, the third Saturday, for our next market day. In the meantime, you can find a vendor on Friday early evening in the same Napoli’s Pizzeria parking lot with extra produce if you missed Saturday’s market or just want some more. Just one more way of continuing to serve South Park and Georgetown with healthy food options.

3 MORE DAYS: OPENING DAY OF THE MARKET

The grand opening of the new South Park Market on Wheels is just about here. For almost a year, the community has pulled together, gathered at meeting, filled our surveys, and worked to make this dream a reality. And now is is just 3 days away.

We’d like to take the time to thank those who were instrumental in the beginning, middle and end of this project. We’d like to thank all of you in advance for your support once we open. Our dream to have this grow into more often next year and truly supply South Park with food and good food is huge. And we want to extend this big welcome to our Georgetown friends as well. We hope you will come and enjoy our maret as well. Georgetown gives us several great events and places to go and things to do. We’d like to give something back to you as well. A great place to get food, produce and tamales.

Hope to see you all there. Remember, we are open the third Staurday of each month now through September in the Napoli’s Pizza parking lot on the Southeast corner of 14th and Cloverdale in South Park.

TWO WEEKS TIL OPENING DAY

With two weeks basically until we open our market, things are busy, very busy and yet somehow we are still having fun. We hope you will come see all of our great vendors.

Some of the products we have to offer will be veggies of course, but also prepared foods, from tamales to fresh cut up fruit. We will have pet products and bath salts. Art will also add that South Park flair to our event as well as service booths. Final deadline for vendor sign up is Friday, June 12th.

If you’d like to volunteer to help with any of the last minute stuff, let us know by emailing us at: southparkmarket@gamil.com