Farmers market returns as VIGA plants seeds for future

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Uptown Vashon has slipped back into its Saturday rhythm: tents rising at the Village Green, farmers setting out greens and flowers, makers arranging their wares, musicians warming up and leashed dogs tugging their people toward the bustle.

The Vashon Island Farmer’s Market, organized by the Vashon Island Growers Association, is now two weeks into its 2026 season, bringing locally grown produce, prepared food, flowers, art and music back to the heart of town from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.

But behind the sunny return of market season, VIGA is also navigating a moment of growth and uncertainty — one that has pushed the organization to launch a new annual fundraiser.

The fundraiser, called the Fiddlehead Feast, will be held at 5 p.m. May 30. Terah Ratheheart, president of VIGA’s board, described it as a whimsical night of fiddleheads, fiddle music, locally grown food and what she calls “high spring.”

”This is the first fundraiser of this caliber that this current board has ever done,” Ratheheart said.

VIGA has hosted community events and fundraisers before, including harvest celebrations and the annual Food Access Partnership pizza party in the fall, but Ratheheart said the Fiddlehead Feast marks a new step for the organization — a larger, more formal fundraising event meant to support its growing work.

The organization is raising money to support its expanding operations, continue work on projects such as its grain program and, eventually, hire an executive director.

“VIGA is getting bigger, and we need to have more money for operations,” Ratheheart said.

The fundraiser also comes after a recent blow to regional farmland access work. In a recent newsletter, VIGA said King County received notice March 23 that its USDA Increasing Land Access grant would be terminated effective March 26.

“The sudden loss of this funding has both immediate operational impacts and longer-term implications for the county’s ability to advance equitable farmland access and support a resilient local food system,” Ratheheart wrote in the newsletter.

Part of the money raised will also help VIGA continue its food access work, Ratheheart said, as the organization expects demand for local food assistance to grow amid uncertainty around federal programs such as SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.

Through the Food Access Partnership, VIGA Farm Bucks are distributed to community members in $2 increments and can be used like cash at the farmers market and participating VIGA-member farm stands. The program does not require formal applications; VIGA says people who need food can receive Farm Bucks directly or through local nonprofit partners.

In 2025, VIGA distributed about $60,000 in Farm Bucks, with a 92% redemption rate — a sign, Ratheheart said, that the program is getting money directly into the hands of people who need food and back to the farmers who grow it.

“It’s supporting people getting nutritious food, and it’s supporting farmers being able to produce more,” Ratheheart said. “We all have to eat food.”

The moment has underscored the importance of local food systems, Ratheheart said, as VIGA continues expanding its work beyond the farmers market.

The organization, which began in the 1980s as a small farmers market near the post office, now supports island agriculture through food access programs, farm infrastructure, farm stand promotion, shared equipment and food preservation work.

This season, VIGA has added a new flower co-op table at the market, expanding on its existing co-op table, where smaller-scale growers and members who may not be ready to run their own booth can sell produce through the organization.

The goal, Ratheheart said, is to make it easier for people to find locally grown food on the island while also increasing sales opportunities for farmers.

VIGA has also recently hired Lauren Evashenk as a project coordinator through a USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant, Ratheheart said. Much of the role will focus on opening more avenues for farmers to sell their food.

“A lot is happening and has been happening over at VIGA,” Ratheheart said.

That includes work on the island’s grain infrastructure. Over the past year, VIGA has acquired shared equipment for farmers, including a stone mill, seed cleaner and storage bins, as part of an effort to build out the infrastructure needed to grow, process and mill grain on Vashon.

The equipment is currently being used for experimental grain harvests and is expected to eventually move to Mukai Farm & Garden, where VIGA and Friends of Mukai are helping transform the historic Mukai Cold Process Fruit Barreling Plant into a food hub with aggregation, storage and processing space, a community kitchen and room for local food businesses.

Farm stands are also opening across the island, including two new stands this season, Ratheheart said. VIGA’s updated farm stand map — available on the organization’s website and in print at the farmers market, farm stands and locations around town — shows participating stands and notes which accept VIGA Farm Bucks.

For more information about the Fiddlehead Feast, the farmers market, VIGA Farm Bucks, VIGA’s farm stand map, and everything else they do, visit VIGA’s website at vigavashon.org.