6/24/2009 5:21:00 PM All smiles at market opening
Bread company sales rise at small venue
Rod Neldam, right, owner of Grateful Bread, smiles with staffers Chris Lahoda and Edan Gehman during last week's Queen Anne Farmers Market. The company sold three times as much bread as it did at a market in Wedgwood.
Last week's grand opening of the Queen Anne's Farmers Market was met with sunny weather, cheerful music and hundreds of visitors.
Twenty-three vendors lined West Crockett Street where the market, under new management, bustled with people and music and appetizing aromas. Canlis chef Jason Franey cooked up a variety of samples including some bib lettuce soup. Patty Pan Grill was busy grilling vegetable and cheese quesadillas, and several guests were eating afternoon boxed meals from Skillet.
Ragtime music from Seattle quartet Snake Suspenderz regaled the crowd as did Andre Feriante with his classical Spanish guitar. People pushing perambulators browsed the offerings of assorted cheese, vegetables and meats and struck up conversations with neighbors.
State Rep. Reuven Carlyle and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels gave short speeches to kick off the event as did market co-founder Julie Whitehorn and market manager Patty Spahr. The rest of the afternoon was all about food. But for Raft Island's roses and guest author Matthew Amster-Burton, every vendor was selling something edible. Among them was Rod Neldam, owner of Grateful Bread. Just three weeks ago his company signed up to be a part of the market. Spahr had contacted him then and because his company was having so much success at the Meadowbrook market in Wedgwood, he signed on.
"We ran out of product at that market," he said of Meadowbrook. "So because of that we thought we should do another."
In four hours, Grateful Bread sold 150 loaves of bread, tripling what it did at Meadowbrook. "That's pretty hard to do," Neldam said. "We [manager Chris Lahoda and staffer Edan Gehman] were all selling loaves at the same time." What bread items were left over were either given to Queen Anne Helpline, the U-District Food Bank or sold the next day at a discount at the store's Wedgwood location.
Other vendors included David and Cindy Krepky of Dog Mountain Farm out of Carnation. The couple have been selling farm goose, duck and chicken eggs and fruits and vegetables at various markets for five years. Their Thursdays had been spent at the Bellevue Farmers Market located downtown in the former Safeway store parking lot across from Bellevue Square. Though they were happy to be working with vendors they knew well, the couple felt the location was too noisy with car traffic. They wanted something with a more local feel.
"This location is great," David Krepky said. "We know a lot of [vendors] and I think we'll do well here."
Two booths down from the Krepkys was Pierre-Louis and Joan Monteillet of Monteillet Fromagerie who had come the farthest away to be at the market. They drove five hours from Dayton, northeast of the Walla Walla Valley, where they raise sheep and goats and use the milk from both to make artisan cheese. Commercial clients such as Boca, Palace Kitchen and Tilth bring them to Seattle anyway so they figured, why not participate in the market, too.
"This is good for a beginning and the weather is helping," Pierre-Louis Monteillet said of the market turnout. "Coming to the city is a good experience for us."
Of the list of vendors, only two, one selling fish, the other flowers, didn't show up. The market is permitted to wrap around West Crockett Street onto First Avenue North and to have use of the Queen Anne Aquatic Center parking lot. But vendors only took up about three-quarters of Crockett street space.
Nearby stores such as Metropolitan Market, How to Cook a Wolf and Chocolopolis reported being extra busy during market hours, according to the Queen Anne Farmers Market Association's Web site.
Queen Anne residents Catherine and Jon Boyce won last week's $100 basket drawing, a basket filled with items from the day's vendors and which was delivered to the Boyce home.
