Maple Valley Farmers Market

      Baseball, soccer, football, lacrosse, volleyball–the community of Maple Valley is bursting with sports teams for every age and interest.  Given the health benefits of both exercise and healthy eating, the Maple Valley Farmers’ Market will celebrate local youth sports participation by presenting a surprise treat to those youth who wear their sports uniform to the Farmers’ Market on Saturday, September 3.  Uniform-wearing youth should go to the Information Booth to pick up their gift.

     To support the healthy eating component of the Market, visitors will want to visit their favorite of the farmers’ booths, offering fresh, ripe late-summer harvest bounty; bright flower arrangements; cheeses; eggs; milk; organic meat; and more; but they may especially want to check out the newest vendors.  A Taste of Eden offers northwest premier specialty olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars and blends. 

     In addition, the prepared food booths are always popular, and the newest booth will make you think that you’ve just washed up on the Hawaiian Islands or in the Phillippines.  Island Bites is owned by Maple Valley’s own Marites Descargar,  who grew up cooking Philipino foods and then married a Hawaiian, adding even more island recipes to her culinary repertoire. A first-time entrepreneur, Descargar offers meat/veggie  and banana lumpia, an item similar to spring rolls and popular in Indonesia and the Philippines.  Additionally, she offers ensaymada, a sweet bread served with whipped butter and sugar; marinated chicken skewers; a plate lunch including rice, macaroni salad, and Kalua pork, which has been slow-cooked for 10 hours with Hawaiian rock salt and liquid smoke ; and pansit, a Philipino noodle dish with shredded pork or chicken , that is served with one lumpia.  Her foods will make you smell a tropical breeze!

     In the non-food category, Michelle Young of Black Diamond will join the Market vendors with her U Rockit! Hair Trends booth.   Young’s feather hair extensions and hair tinsel extensions will add a glamorous note to  even the most chlorine-laden or summer-dry hair.

     Non-profit groups participating in the Saturday Market include  Maple Valley/Enumclaw Master Gardeners, who will help to solve visitors’ plant and garden puzzles; Cedar Grove Composting, one of the Market’s corporate sponsors, who will provide advice and answer questions such as, “Can I put my Starbucks cup in my compost?”; and St. George Episcopal Church, with information about their programs and church services.

     Market day would be incomplete without music, and this week’s group is Down the Road, a trio of bluegrass and American Roots music veterans from the Snoqualmie Valley area that includes husband/wife duo Cathi and Gary Davidson on guitars and vocals, and John Tubbs on mandolin and vocals.  According to their website, “the trio blends signature duet and trio harmony singing, a little yodeling, and clean, tasteful guitar-mandolin interplay to add a fresh, honest, straight-ahead voice to the world of old-time country, bluegrass, and folk music.

     With only four weeks remaining in the Market season  after this Saturday, Maple Valleyites should make certain that their Labor Day Saturday includes a trip to the MVFM.  The Maple Valley Farmers’ Market is the “Saturday morning place to be”  from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. each Saturday through October 1 at Rock Creek Elementary School. For more information, please visit www.maplevalleyfarmersmarket.org.  NOTE:  This article was written by Brooke Dillon and posted by Victoria Laise Jonas.