Portland Farmers Market Now Open Year Round

Saturday, November 08, 2014

Kemea Smith, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Portland Farmers Market, located on the south Park Blocks of Portland State University

Portland Farmers Market, located on the south Park Blocks of Portland State University, will remain open year round.

“Portland State University’s beautiful South Park Blocks have long been the perfect location for our world-class market, and we are thrilled to now make the location our year-round home,” said Trudy Toliver, Executive Director of Portland Farmers Market. “We are grateful to the university for its ongoing support of our dedicated farmers, ranchers, fishermen and small food businesses as well as our loyal shoppers.”

Rather than closing the PSU location the weekend before Christmas, and moving to Shemanski Park, the Saturday Market at PSU will stay open all four seasons of the year. The winter market will be open from January 3, 2015, to February 28, 2015 every Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm. Although the market will be smaller, about one block from Montgomery to Harrison, it will expand back to its original size in March with its regular hours from 8:30 am to 2 pm.

"The Portland State Farmers Market exemplifies our connections to the community. It provides economic opportunity and showcases sustainability. We are proud to have this grow," said Portland State President Wim Wiewel.

The year round announcement is great for small family farms, because they will be able to keep on employees, balance out annual income, and invest in farm equipment. Some farmers have started using season-extending techniques to protect crops from the winter weather, in order to sell their produce to those loyal customers who come to the market on cold wet days.

“More people buying vegetables at farmers markets in the winter means more income for the farm in the winter and being able to keep some employees working year round rather than the standard seasonal work model,” said Lane Selman, market manager for Gathering Together Farm.

Shoppers can expect to find lots of delicious and fresh produce, fish, artisan baked goods, cheeses and meat. Of course your favorite hot food and coffee vendors will be out during the winter months as well.

The Portland Farmers market was founded in 1992, and is an independently run nonprofit. The market moved to the PSU campus in 1996. Over 720,000 people purchased farm-fresh produce and other specialty foods from more than 190 vendors in 2013. To learn more about Portland Farmers Market, and how they are supporting the local food movement click here.