23-05-2025
This Pierce County farmers market just opened for its 10th season. It's grown
Purdy Good Pickles owner Sis Lavigne remembers when there were only a small number of vendors selling wares at the Gig Harbor Waterfront Farmers Market.
When the Gig Harbor Waterfront Alliance took it over about ten years ago, she recalls seeing only 10-15 vendors, she told The News Tribune. Since then, she's seen the market grow to include dozens of farms and small businesses. On May 22, the market celebrated its 10th anniversary with 46 vendors selling fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs, honey, spices, crafts and much more, per its website and opening day map.
The market helped Purdy Good Pickles get its start, according to Lavigne. Previously an art teacher, she decided to look for a second job after employer budget cuts put her position in jeopardy. She started substitute teaching, but that job didn't pay in the summer, so she got to talking with her daughter about what they could sell. Organic pickles, they decided, because 'people always have pickles in the refrigerator' and they'd been growing organic gardens for years. That's how Purdy Good Pickles was born, according to Lavigne.
'From our first market, our business just took off,' Lavigne said. 'It was so crazy.'
Lavigne's likeness is pictured in a poster print commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Waterfront Farmers Market, according to Waterfront Alliance Special Projects and Outreach Director Clare Dunis.
The market opened for the summer on May 22 with a 1 p.m. ribbon-cutting from Gig Harbor Mayor Mary Barber. The market will be held from 1-6 p.m. at Skansie Brothers Park each Thursday through Aug. 28, according to the market website.
For visitors wanting to avoid the stress of downtown parking, a free shuttle service will take visitors on a continuous 10-15 minute loop from two church parking lots to the market downtown, the website says. Visitors can park at either The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (8002 Dorotich St.) or Gig Harbor United Methodist Church (7400 Pioneer Way). The shuttle is ADA-accessible and sponsored by BBQ2U, according to a news release from the Gig Harbor Waterfront Alliance.
Another option is riding Pierce Transit's Gig Harbor Waterfront Connector from locations including the Kimball Drive Park & Ride or the Uptown Gig Harbor Shopping Center. The schedule of stops is posted on the Pierce Transit website. You can also try your luck at one of Gig Harbor's public parking lots, or book a ride on-demand through the Pierce Transit Runner service for the same price as a bus ride.
You can also float into the market: it's accessible via boat, kayak and stand-up paddleboard via Jerisich Dock, according to the market website.
The waterfront ambiance, with the waves breaking on the shore and Mount Rainier in the background, is part of what makes the farmers market so special, said Fox Island Trading Co. co-owner Kim Henson. She and her husband, Andre, launched their all-natural, organic bath and body products business at the market in 2015.
'It's magical down there when everything comes together,' Henson said.
Hosting the market downtown, while a challenging location to access, has been a goal from the market's beginnings, according to Dunis, the Waterfront Alliance special projects and outreach director. She was the farmers market manager last year.
'It was very much a community recognition that we wanted to have an opportunity for local farms and produce providers to be able to have greater access to the community in a communal space, and where could that happen best but on the waterfront in Gig Harbor at Skansie Brothers Park,' Dunis said.
Volunteers also help vendors load their items and get in and out of the space, a gesture that vendors have consistently told market organizers adds to an overarching sense of community, according to Dunis.
More recent goals for the market have been increasing the number of hyperlocal farms participating in the market as well as opportunities for youth entrepreneurs and local performance groups, she told The News Tribune. This year, they'll have a Peninsula Female Farmers Network Co-Op booth featuring 'at least 12 hyperlocal farms rotating throughout the season offering stunning flowers, starts, herbs, fruit, vegetables, meat and more,' the market website's list of vendors says. The co-op relieves the pressure on each individual farm to produce yield for the entire farmers market season, Dunis said.
The market is also hosting a free loyalty program this year, according to the website. After marking eight visits to the market by scanning one of the QR codes posted at the site, customers can get a free Gig Harbor coffee tumbler while supplies last and be eligible for another 'special invitation,' the website says.
