Farmers markets open across the Eastside

With the sun come the farmers markets, and this season brings a new market and a new venue to the Eastside.

Several markets, including Bothell, Carnation, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond and Woodinville, have opened or are opening this week.

The new offering is the Friday Night Market at Juanita Beach, which opens June 1 and runs through Oct. 12. Hours are 3 to 7 p.m. at the park at Northeast 116th Street and 100th Avenue Northeast.

About 20 vendors are lined up, said Grant Davidson, market organizer, with no crafts booths.

"This is a brand-new market, with farmers and food only," said Davidson. "That's kind of the trend in markets today."

Meanwhile, the Woodinville Farmers Market is moving from downtown Woodinville for its 14th season.

The destination is a big patch of grass at the southeast corner of Woodinville Village, just south of the intersection of the Redmond-Woodinville Road and Northeast 145th Street.

Starting this weekend, the market will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 13, with offerings from more than 50 farmers, vendors and specialty-food processors.

From 750 to 1,500 people commonly visit the market each week, said Michael Charlton, president of the market board, depending on the time of year and what activities are featured.

Those activities include Chef Days, barbecues, celebrations for Mothers Day and Fathers Day, and harvests of locally grown strawberries, honey, corn and other fresh goods.

The location also offers such advantages as pull-through parking stalls where vendors can easily unload items to sales tables, and close-in parking for customers, Charlton added.

Over the years, the new site of the market was perhaps best-known as the setting for a welded-steel bull, now gone, and a mini-shed business that's moved across the street. The landmark Hollywood Schoolhouse is nearby.

The biggest change in the area is the construction of Woodinville Village, a Tuscan-style mixed-use development that will have restaurants, wineries, condos, shopping and a hotel, scheduled to open in 2008.

All that pending activity made Woodinville Village a perfect place for a farmers market, Charlton said.

The market is beginning its 14th season, he said, and had operated at sites near the Woodinville civic center, but that location was lost because of improvements to the city's Carol Edwards Center.

"We knew this was coming," said Charlton, and that led to contact with Woodinville Village about a possible relocation.

Not only were the Woodinville Village developers willing to talk, they were enthusiastic, Charlton said.

"I thought, 'This is a great marriage,' " he said. "It was a match made in heaven."

The location at the south edge of the city is in the heart of the Woodinville tourist district, near the Sammamish River and multiple wineries, restaurants and a brewery.

When Woodinville Village is finished, the market will move to a permanent setting on the grounds, Charlton said.

More than 1,500 people are expected to live and work there, but Charlton said the market exemplifies the kind of bustle that is intended to be part of the village setting.

"In a sense, we're kind of the first residents," he said.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com.