SANDPOINT — Gardens are being put to bed and the harvest has been gathered.

Saturday, the community gathered to celebrate as the Farmers Market at Sandpoint gathered for its annual Harvest Fest, held on the final market day of the season.

"Everyone's a little bit sad that it's the last one of the year but it has its own draw, too," said Anuschka Bales, market board treasurer and owner of Bobcat Farms.

While the weather was a little colder than hoped, Bales said the market saw a strong crowd, with residents turning out to stock up on storage vegetables, shop for crafts and support the local food bank.

"We even had something where you could double up on your doing good where you could support a farmer by buying something from the farmer and then support a family by donating that to the food bank," Bales said.

The market features roughly 80 vendors, ranging from farmers to artists and crafters, with the number fluctuating based on the day and vendors' prior commitments. All come from within a 100-mile radius of the market's home at Farmin Park, located in the center of downtown Sandpoint.

"[The produce] didn't come here on a truck — other than so many miles it came here this morning by the farmer," Bales said. "Most of the things that you are buying at the market were harvested from the field no more than 24 hours before the market."

Like the farmers, crafters go through a rigorous jurying process to be part of the market and, most often, are the ones helping market customers.

"That means the quality of what they're bringing is really high," Bales said. "they're actively creating what's in the booth. … You can see some of them sitting there doing their craft right there in the booth so you can even see the magic happen."

That choice to limit vendors to the region was deliberate, Bales said. The goal is to put the focus on local produce and crafters. Vendors also need to be the one who crafted the item or be the farmer or related to the farmer.

"The kind of limits it a little, especially with the farming," Bales said. "You're not going to find any mangoes or bananas here, but you do find a really big range of produce. There are lots of berries and apples and pears and all that good fruit stuff, but then tons of fresh produce."

In addition to fresh produce and storage crops — root vegetables, hard-shell squashes and others — many Sandpoint market vendors feature unique or hard-to-find produce that isn't available in local grocery stores.

"Some people don't want to buy it because they're not sure what to do with it," Bales said before chuckling and pointing to a nearby cookbook with recipes featuring unusual products. "Well, we can tell you what to do with it."

The market — a fixture in Farmin Park on Wednesdays and Saturdays from early May through mid-October — has been connecting the community’s farmers, food vendors, artists and craftspeople with the community for more than 37 years. The brainchild of Lois Wythe, the owner of Peaceable Kingdom before she passed away in 2011, the market began in 1988 with a few simple questions by Wythe: “Would you like to put your garden to work? Are you interested in having high-quality, locally grown vegetables available to buy?”

Wythe arranged a meeting at the local county extension office, hoping that at least a few people would turn out, according to the market’s website. Instead, more than 60 people packed the office and, within weeks, more than 10 vendors brought flowers, plants and produce from their gardens to Farmin Park.

"I think the most important thing is that when the farmers market started in 1988, its main purpose was to support those small family farms in our local community and to bring that produce to our local community," Bales said. "And I'm really proud that that hasn't changed."

Since then, the market has continued to grow and evolve, but its community-centered focus hasn't changed.

"The community really supports the market, and I think that's the distinction," Bales said of the market's success. "You could be in a large city, and I'm not sure if people really are attached to their farmers' market or can relate to a farmer, whereas this community has always been extremely supportive of the market. We have many, many regulars that we see every week, rain or shine. Not just the vendors, rain or shine, but the shoppers too, and that's huge for us."

Bales was a customer at the market, falling in love with the ability to buy locally grown produce directly from those who grew it. Those early visits prompted her to grow her own produce as part of an effort to give her family more quality food.

Growing several hundred items on her quarter-acre micro-farm, Bales was soon left with the question of what to do with all of the extra.

"As a customer to the farmers market, I thought how amazing it was, and I wanted to be a part of it," Bales said. "And you know, one thing leads to another, and next thing you know, you're a farmer, and you're coming every week and setting up your booth. Then, the next thing you know, someone says, 'Hey do you want to help on the board?'"

Those who haven't visited the farmers market should, not only for the quality of the produce and crafts but because of the community experience it offers.

"Oh man, if they didn't come, they're missing out. I mean, where else do you get to not only encounter farmers and makers, you get to see amazing goods," Bales said. "You can purchase amazing goods, but you're also interacting in a social event, right? There's music. Your neighbors are also here. Everyone should definitely get out of their house and come down and be a part of the community."

    A vendor helps a customer at the Farmers Market at Sandpoint on Saturday.