Moses Lake Farmers Market to open Saturday
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 4 months AGO
Rows of produce line a booth at last year’s Moses Lake Farmers Market. The 2025 market opens this Saturday with games, raffles and a ribbon-tying ceremony.
FILE PHOTO
Isaac Lnenicka, from Liberty Farms based in Soap Lake, breaks open ginger for a customer to smell at the Moses Lake Farmers Market last year.
Dozens of apples are stacked for customers at last year’s Moses Lake Farmers Market, as customers wander by.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | April 29, 2025 1:05 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Farmers Market will open Saturday for the season in high style, with live music, entertainment, a raffle, a scavenger hunt and a ribbon-tying ceremony with Moses Lake Mayor Dustin Swartz to symbolize the community coming together at the market. The event is in keeping with the theme of the market this year, according to an announcement from the Market Manager Christine Haguewood.
“This year’s theme, ‘Tied Together by Community,’ highlights the power of local connections – bringing together farmers, artisans and neighbors for a fresh, meaningful start to the season,” Haguewood wrote.
The Moses Lake Farmers Market was established in 1978 and takes place every Saturday from the beginning of May through the end of October at McCosh Park. The number of vendors varies, but this year’s market will kick off with more than 50, Haguewood wrote in her statement.
Saturday’s opening will include entertainment from Spokane musician Nick Grow, according to the market’s social media. After that, the market will alternate Saturdays with Columbia Basin Allied Arts bringing music to the park.
This is the third year for CBAA’s Music at the Market program, CBAA Executive Director Shawn Cardwell said.
“We would show up just for occasional farmers markets, and we would occasionally bring an artist to play while we were there,” Cardwell said. “And then we realized that if we weren't doing that, there were several days that the market’s own budget wouldn't allow to pay for musicians to play. We really feel like it adds a special element to the market.”
Music at the Market will feature live music the second and fourth Saturday of every month, with local artists Days of Honey, Whitley, The Pangaleers and Dimestore Prophets frontman Ray Glover.
“We have artists who've never played at the market before, and we even have artists that are coming from out of the region to play,” Cardwell said.
One of those acts is Hina and Ryuga Allen, a young brother and sister duo from Ellensburg. Another is indie singer-songwriter Andru Gomez from Moscow, Idaho.
“He is an awesome, completely versatile artist, and he brings a really super fun set and energy,” Cardwell said.
The Moses Lake Farmers Market Opening Day starts at 8 a.m. Saturday, according to Haguewood’s announcement.
“It's more than just an event,” Swartz said. “It's … wholly put on by people who live here to celebrate what we do here as a community, which is agriculture. It's a venue where all community members can come together.”
Isaac Lnenicka, from Liberty Farms based in Soap Lake, breaks open ginger for a customer to smell at the Moses Lake Farmers Market last year.
Dozens of apples are stacked for customers at last year’s Moses Lake Farmers Market, as customers wander by.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
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Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.