The voting period for the 12th annual American Farmland Trust Farmers Market Celebration is open and people can go online and support their favorite farmers markets through Sept. 20. This year, the top farmers market wins $1,000, with second place receiving $500.

Last year, the Sitka Farmers Market was the top market in Alaska and finished ninth in the Pacific region. The Sitka Farmers Market has been the top vote-getter in Alaska for the past three years, and five of the past six year. The contest uses online voting, but each email address is only allowed to vote once so people can’t stuff the ballot box. Voting opened on June 22 this year.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are several major changes to the Sitka Farmers Markets this year. We have a greatly scaled back market with two new co-managers (Ariane Goudeau and Nalani James), a switch to an online ordering system, a new pick-up event location, and new health and safety protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Click this link to hear a KCAW Morning Interview with Sitka Local Foods Network president Charles Bingham discussing the changes.

Basically, this year people create Sitka accounts using the Salt and Soil Marketplace online portal, http://www.saltandsoilmarketplace.com, and order their produce from 5 p.m. on Tuesday through 8 p.m. on Thursday each week from July through September. We will have a weekly pick-up event (with Middle Island Gardens) from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm (behind St. Peter’s By The Sea Episcopal Church, 611 Lincoln Street). All of our sales this year will be done online, and no sales will happen at the pick-up events on Saturday. In addition, all of our volunteers will be wearing masks and gloves and we ask you to wear masks and stay with your cars when you arrive at the pick-up event while one of our greeters brings you your order.

Click this link to learn more about some of the changes this year, and click this link to see some photos from our June 20 pick-up event. Click this link to sign up for our weekly Sitka Farmers Market newsletter that comes out on Tuesday afternoons and lets people know what’s available each week.