On Saturday, June 29th (10 am - 3 pm) our community will gather at the Olympia Farmers Market to celebrate the annual Berry Harvest season. Our local berry season is a spectacular procession of berry crops that thrive in the Pacific Northwest! And, when the harvests end all too quickly, we must wait the better part of a year to experience fresh, local berries again. To celebrate this long-awaited harvest, the Olympia Farmers Market partners with local farms and businesses to host a day ‘jam’ packed with activity and tasty treats for all ages!
Help us spread the word! For the first time, the Market will host a series of short workshops to inspire your connection with the world of local berries! Here is the day's schedule of activities:
10 a.m. at the Olympia Farmers Market Booth: Market Berry Shortcake Fundraiser.
Purchase your piece of the famous Market-sourced, hand-crafted shortcake. All proceeds benefit the Market’s Farm to Table Holiday Food Drive. While supplies last.
Did you know the Berry Harvest Celebration is a fundraiser for the Market’s Farm to Table Holiday Food Drive? Every year, we hand-craft and sell servings of the famous Market Berry Shortcake, and we commit all proceeds to the Holiday Food Drive. In partnership with local organizations that help families in need, we deliver Market sourced meal boxes during the holiday season. Through this program, we can support local farms and provide local families with fresh, nutritious food around the holiday season!
10 am on the Market Stage: Apple Tree Production's Performance Theater
Apple Tree Productions is an educational children's theater company dedicated to giving students a realistic performance experience in a professional and nurturing environment. They do full-length plays featuring students ages 4 to 20, throughout the school year and summer. They also have a free inclusive acting class for students with developmental disabilities.
11 am on the Market Stage: How Short Jazz
Swing inspired standards that set the soul and feet to tapping.
11-11:30 am in the Market Garden: Story Time in the Garden with Timberland Regional Library
‘Berry’ fun music, movement, and books for the whole family. All ages welcome. Children must be accompanied by a participating adult.
11 am-2 pm at the Slow Foods Booth: Berry-Yummy Food Demo with Slow Foods Olympia
Join Slow Foods to learn to prepare simple and delicious berry recipes, made fresh with ingredients from today’s Farmers Market! Free samples while supplies last.
Slow Foods is a global organization, with local chapters that work to link the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment. Our Slow Food Olympia chapter promotes the appreciation and consumption of seasonal and local foods and the support of those who produce them. Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. Join our Slow Food movement and visit http://www.slowfoodolympia.org/
12-12:30 pm at the Workshop Tent: Helping Pollinators with Olympia Beekeepers Association
Join the Olympia Beekeepers Association to hear about what you can do to help pollinators in your own backyard. You will talk about how to identify local pollinators (not everything is a bee!) and solve the mysteries of what they are doing and why they do it! We will also discuss honeybees and their ‘berry’ important roles in the hive as well as how they help feed our world.
Olympia Beekeepers Association is a non-profit organization that provides education, training, and support for beekeepers in Thurston and surrounding counties. They meet every second Tuesday at Chinook Middle School, where they host an Apprentice Beekeeping course from 6-7 pm and a General Meeting with club business and guest speakers from 7-9 pm.
1-1:30 pm at the Workshop Tent: Soil Testing for Success with Thurston Conservation District
Join Thurston Conservation District to hear about best practices for soil sampling, interpreting test results, and how to improve your soils. Bring your own soil sample for TCD specialists to test for you! (Cost $25 cash or check; Testing occurs offsite and includes individualized interpretation report from TCD Staff)
Thurston Conservation District is a non-regulatory agency that promotes voluntary stewardship of local natural resources, among private landowners in Thurston County. They are committed to finding any possible resources available and coordinate them so that they meet the needs of the local land-user, for conservation of soil, water and related resources.
2-2:30 pm at the Workshop Tent: Growing Berries with Burnt Ridge Nursery & Orchard.
Join renowned grower and educator, Michael Dolan to learn how to grow berry crops that grow well in our area. Plants available for purchase.
Michael and Carolyn Dolan run a family-owned, 20-acre farm in Onalaska, where they cultivate an impressive variety of berry plants suited for our area. Burnt Ridge is a local vendor at the Market, and they are a one stop shop for fresh berries, jams, edible fruits and nuts, and a new line of fruit wines – as well as fruit/nut producing trees, vines and shrubs, and a large selection of Northwest native plants and ornamentals.
Of course, fresh berries will abound! Local berry farmers will bring a stunning array of the freshest berry selections of the season! Market-wide, our vendors and restaurants will WOW visitors with berry foods and products sourced fresh and local - straight from the nearest farms to our customers. Visitors also have their choice of vendors who can expertly help them to select berry plants for purchase and planting.
Plus, Slow Foods Berry recipe demos and sampling, play Market Bingo & win prizes with Friends of the Farmers Market, and so much more!!
WHO: Olympia Farmers Market
WHAT: Annual Berry Harvest Celebration
WHEN: Saturday, June 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WHERE: The Olympia Farmers Market, 700 Capitol Way S, Olympia, WA 98501
