Let’s talk market: the Vashon Farmers Market. Let’s talk about a new shelter, one that can house a winter market, one where vendors don’t have to cancel in the rain, one that can be opened up entirely in the summer and makes the Village Green a beautiful town center. But before we go there, let’s talk about the market and why we should care about it.

The Vashon Farmers Market has been a constant presence every Saturday for more than 20 years, yet it’s always changing. It’s the same ship even though vendors and farms have moved in and out of it over the years, constantly inserting new energy, ideas and products. Farmers anchor the market, while crafters, artisans, food vendors and musicians draw customers each week to create a full and beautiful market experience. It is an economic engine and business incubator that generates over $300,000 in gross sales annually.

The Vashon Farmers Market fills a unique niche. Everyone who sells at the market is a producer, not a reseller. That is important. Every item produced on this island — be it produce, dairy or craft — is an item that doesn’t have to be brought to the island from somewhere else. Production is the base of an economy, and the more we produce rather than import, the more stable our economy is. We usually think of this in terms of producing our own food to create resiliency in the event of a disaster, but the economic base we gain from this production is significant year in and year out.

The effect of farmers markets on the business competency of a community cannot be overestimated. There was an investigation into the success of Silicon Valley in relation to Route 128, which was being developed in tandem with Silicon Valley. The long and short of the investigation was that Silicon Valley succeeded because it was a farming valley with a strong entrepreneurial market culture. Their knowledge was applied to the new technology businesses and gave them the marketing advantage (John Markoff 2006). Having a market in your community is like having a business school that enriches the whole town while bringing up new entrepreneurs.

The Vashon Island Growers Association (VIGA) Reimagine the Village Green committee is tasked with developing designs for a new market shelter since the market is clearly outgrowing the current one. The committee started by working through a grant with the University of Washington. Architecture students came up with a design that could be built in stages and would enlarge the current structure to accommodate more vendors and more customers while keeping the Village Green a park. Having this design in hand generated more discussion about how an open structure cannot house a winter market. So the committee continued to work, creating two more designs to present to the community. Each design illustrates possible solutions to the challenges the market faces, especially in the winter.

Each year, the Vashon Farmers Market moves indoors in the winter, and every year sales drop precipitously. Every business owner knows what it means to move locations. People can’t find you. Every year leading up to that move, many vendors cancel as winter weather rolls in. The Vashon Farmers Market needs a building that functions as an open air market in summer and closes up tight in the winter to accommodate all the winter vendors while integrating seamlessly with the Village Green.

Imagine a building that is beautiful, iconic even, and reflects who we are as a rural community. Imagine it is light with high ceilings and artwork by local artists incorporated into the design. Imagine you see its clock tower from the road to draw you in. Imagine that it has a commercial kitchen the community can use to create market products or rent out for catered events. Imagine this building earns income for its own maintenance, VIGA and the Vashon Park District.

The City of Bellingham developed a new year-round market, and the Bellingham Farmers Market’s annual income quadrupled.

This is a dream. It’s a big dream, but if we believe in all the reasons a local marketplace and island farms and artists are vital, we can join together to create something important, beautiful, vibrant and stabilizing.

The next phase of this project is to get community input and participation. The designs will be posted at the Saturday market this summer and on the “Reimagine the Village Green” Facebook page. Please check them out and give us your feedback. If this project is important to you, join us. To comment, learn more or get involved, contact Natalie Sheard at nataliemsheard@gmail.com.

— VIGA represents local farmers and those who eat and use their products. This column is part of a series by VIGA members.