On Saturday, May 17, about 25 community members gathered for the official groundbreaking of Sitka’s new community garden — a major step forward in our food security and strategic plan efforts.
Located on city-owned land at the end of Jarvis Street that was leased through a Request for Proposals, the garden will feature 10×20-foot plots available by contract, with a set seasonal fee. As the site is developed, plans include a 6-foot bear-resistant fence with electric wire, solar power, and both walking and drive-in gates to help protect the garden from deer and bears.
Plots will be assigned this winter, and those who have already expressed interest will be contacted to confirm. A cooperative model will guide operations, with shared rules, work hours, and the option to build either mounded or raised beds. Priority is first come, first served.
This initiative is part of Sitka’s Strategic Plan and aligns with Goal #1.5: Continue to facilitate community partners to address the challenges of food security. It also reflects our commitment to following the plan, as it directly responds to the needs and desires expressed by our community.
We’re excited to see this project take root and grow — thanks to all who came out to celebrate.
Questions? Reach out to sitkacommunitygardens@gmail.com
Join us at the garden site at the upper end of Jarvis Street, from 1-1:30 p.m. this Saturday, May 17, for our long-awaited groundbreaking celebration.
Aside from the satisfying sound of shovel striking dirt, we’ll have a pop-up tent housing a map of the garden with plot layouts, general information about garden membership, and a sign-up form for reserving your plot or confirming your interest if you’re already signed up.
Importantly, we also will be signing up volunteers to help with the initial construction phase of the garden, which will begin immediately. We expect to have three demonstration plots completed as soon as possible and planted for this summer’s growing season.
Member plots will be assigned next January or February for the full opening of the garden, spring of 2026. Initially, they’ll be assigned on a first come, first served basis, so don’t delay. Sign up on Saturday, or reply to this email with your name and contact information to be added to the list, or confirm your previous interest in a plot.
Sitka Farmers Market manager Debe Brincefield, right, presents the Table of the Day Award for the Sept. 7, 2024, Sitka Farmers Market to Kaleb Aldred, Andrea Fraga, and Elisabeth Schafer of Middle Island Gardens. They sold a variety of locally grown produce and flower arrangements. They received a certificate, a tote bag, a selection of Alaska Flour Company products, an Alaska Farmers Market Cookbook, some Barnacle kelp salsa, some Bridge Creek Birch Syrup, and Sitka Farmers Market special label chocolate bars.
The online vendor registration page for the 2025 Sitka Farmers Market has gone live and potential vendors can register now for our summer of markets.
This summer, for its 18th season, the Sitka Local Foods Network is hosting six markets from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays — July 12, July 26, Aug. 9, Aug. 23, Sept. 6, and Sept. 20 — at Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street), where we held 13 of our first 15 years of markets. This will be our 16th year at ANB out of 18 seasons.
One change this year is we no longer have half tables, and we’ve reduced the price of a full table to $35 per market (down from $40). We have a special rate of $175 for vendors who register for all six markets before the first market happens, which means you pay for five markets and get the sixth market free (it’s $210 if the six markets are not paid for before the first market). Vendors can register for one or two markets, or all six. We also have a youth vendor program for ages 14 and younger, which is $20 for all six markets (please let us know ahead of time which specific markets you plan to attend).
The Sitka Farmers Market is a community event hosted by the Sitka Local Foods Network, whose mission is to increase the amount of locally produced and harvested food in the diets of Southeast Alaskans. Our focus is on local — fresh produce, fish, baked goods, prepared foods, cottage foods, arts and crafts — and all products must be made in Alaska (preferably in Sitka or Southeast Alaska, cooked foods may use non-local foods so long as the food is cooked on site). Since our mission is geared toward food security and our space is limited this year, if we have too many vendors try to register our food booths will have a higher priority over arts and crafts.
After having to relocate for two years due to COVID-19, we returned to our ANB Hall roots in 2022 for our 15th season of markets. We have been back at ANB Hall again since the pandemic faded away. We will have indoor and outdoor spaces, but if we don’t have a lot of vendors we will move people inside.
Since COVID-19 is still around, we will encourage wearing masks inside the ANB Hall when Sitka is at the Moderate or High risk levels. While most people now are vaccinated against the coronavirus, there still are people who aren’t vaccinated and there are periodic hot spots when the illness flares up. We don’t want the market to be a place that spreads the coronavirus. Even with our outside booths, we encourage vendors and customers to wear masks, to use hand sanitizer, and to avoid bunching up while giving others six feet of space.
Please read the market vendor rules and responsibilities document linked below. All vendors using this site to register for the market will be held to these rules. We ask all vendors to register by the Thursday morning before the markets where they intend to sell. Unless you specify you want to be outside, we will try to find room for you indoors.
Vendors can pay using PayPal or credit/debit card. When you get to the Payment options, click PayPal (not Invoice) and it should give you the option of using a PayPal account or four different types of cards (Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, Discover). If you prefer to pay by cash or check, contact Charles Bingham at 907-623-7660.
We will provide a $30 refund for full-table and outside cancellations, but to get the refund you are required to let us know before Wednesday of the week of your registered market that you can’t make it. We are billed for transaction fees and other expenses, so the $5 covers those fees. There is no refund if you don’t let us know until after Wednesday.
Debe Brincefield is the Sitka Farmers Market manager this summer. Laura Schmidt is our lead gardener at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm, where the Sitka Local Foods Network grows most of the produce it sells at the market. Charles Bingham is the assistant market manager and the president of the Sitka Local Foods Network.
Sitka Local Foods Network 
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