Farmers Market draws big crowds in Bellevue

Thursday was only the second week of the Bellevue Farmers Market season, but word has already spread that the popular event is back. Shoppers lined up before 2:45 p.m. in the First Presbyterian Church parking lot, 1717 Bellevue Way N.E., contentedly sunning themselves in the warm afternoon.

The farmers were ready for the crowd.

Bunches of yellow, white and blue irises filled oversized white plastic buckets in the flower-vendors booths. Just-picked onions glistened under another canopy. Oysters, clams and mussels, still smelling of salt water, sat on ice in the corner booth.

There was fresh-baked bread, honey, cheese, pies, wild mushrooms, asparagus and spring salad greens. One farmer had fledgling banana trees for sale, along with fresh apple cider, bamboo plants and rhubarb.

By 3:15, the biggest line was in front of Veraci Pizza. The Seattle company brings a mobile stone oven and prepares gourmet pizzas on site.

Not bad for a project that started in a Yarrow Point bathtub in 2003.

The market's founder and manager, Lori Taylor, was soaking in her tub when she came up with the idea of a farmers market in Bellevue. The next day she went to her employer, Wells Medina Nursery in Medina, and asked if it would help sponsor the project.

She opened the market in June 2004 with a focus on fresh produce. The only tweak Taylor made between then and now was switching to afternoon hours to accommodate people who wanted to shop after work. The Bellevue Farmers Market will operate from 3 to 7 p.m. each Thursday through Oct. 11.

The Bellevue Crossroads Farmers Market also opened this week. It runs from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays in the Crossroads Shopping Center parking lot near the corner of 156th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Eighth Street.

Bill Pace, of Bellevue, operates a third direct-from-the-farm market daily at the Mercer Slough Blueberry Farm, 2380 Bellevue Way S.E.

Local growers in the Lake Hills area will have produce for sale later this summer at the corner of 156th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 16th Street.

Other Eastside farmers markets are held in Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, North Bend, Juanita, Kenmore, Bothell and Woodinville. For a complete list of Eastside farmers markets, locations and days they operate, go to www.wafarmersmarkets.com.

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com