Sitka Local Foods Network treasurer Joel Hanson, left, and Sitka Farmers Market manager Debe Brincefield, right, present the Table of the Day Award for the Aug. 24 Sitka Farmers Market to Amanda Robles of Bethel Confections Amanda sold a variety of homemade macarons (cookies). She received a certificate, a tote bag, a selection of Alaska Flour Company products, an Alaska Farmers Market Cookbook, somer carrots, and several Sitka Farmers Market special label chocolate bars. The next Sitka Farmers Market is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street). Vendors can register online (by Thursday night) at https://sitkafarmersmarket.eventsmart.com. More details about the Sitka Local Foods Network and Sitka Farmers Market can be found at http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org. Due to the current internet outage, prospective vendors can call Charles Bingham at 907-623-7660 to register.
Pacific High School students process harvested garlic Tuesday at their garden located behind the Russian Bishop’s House in a large tract fenced off from the Xoots elementary school playground. The alternative public school offers classes in gardening and culinary art. (Daily Sitka Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By GARLAND KENNEDY Daily Sitka Sentinel Staff Writer Harvesting vegetables that grew over the summer, students at Pacific High opened the school year Tuesday with a hands-on lesson in both gardening and collaboration at the garden plot behind the Lincoln Street school. At Pacific High, students can enroll in gardening or culinary classes, but the entire student body of about 40 teenagers was on hand Tuesday gathering the vegetables that will be incorporated into school meals, PHS teacher Mandy Summer said. “This is a stewardship day – at the beginning of each school year we do what’s called orientation,” Summer said. “This is a six-day orientation. Sometimes it’s two weeks, but it is all stewardship projects, outdoor activities, community building activities to get students to know each other, to get to know staff. It really breaks down those barriers before we start in the academic classes.” Formerly Pacific High’s principal, Summer now teaches culinary classes and works with meal preparation both at PHS and nearby Xoots Elementary. Over the past decade, Pacific High’s farm-to-table program has grown from humble beginnings, Summer said. “About 12 years ago, we had one raised bed, and it was in the front of the building, on a grassy lawn, because that’s what the front was before our school was remodeled and the landscaping was put out there,” she said. “We had a ‘reading and weeding’ class… Garden plants were the theme of the class, and kids practiced different kinds of reading strategies by becoming the expert in that garden plant. So that’s really how we started incorporating gardening into the curriculum. And kids became very excited about watching their seeds grow and taking recordings of them and writing about them.” “In 2015 we had the one raised bed, we built maybe three or four more,” she continued. “And over the years, we built another two, another three, another four. Then we got a grant, a partnership grant, with Sitka Tribe of Alaska that provided the funding to purchase the greenhouse.” The school greenhouse, completed in 2023, is now in its first fully operational year and is brimming with plants. Near the greenhouse are a number of raised beds and a fenced garden with fruit trees. Andrea Fraga, who grows produce full time at Middle Island Gardens, is the school’s garden coordinator. At the orientation Tuesday she instructed students in proper techniques, from digging potatoes to cleaning garlic. She first began working with the school in 2021 under a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, and now holds the position thanks to a state Department of Natural Resources Specialty Crop Block Grant secured by the Sitka Conservation Society. “We’re doing a big harvest. We’ve got garlic and shallots today,” Fraga said. “In the greenhouse, folks are harvesting tomatoes, zucchini, bush beans, we have some mint in there. Outdoors here we have some cabbage and kale harvested, chives.” Part of the DNR grant, she said, is to examine “what can grow here. What does it actually look like to grow radish or carrot – and self-sufficiency.” Students gain a sense of place and pride in their work through the gardening class, Fraga said, and can eat the products of their labor at the end. “I try to align production with the school year, but then we have things like lettuce and tomatoes in the summer,” the teacher said. “We have a fair amount of volunteers, so they get to eat what’s available in the summer… I’ve been growing produce for years on Middle Island, but I thought it’d be neat to try to teach younger generations how to do it as well, because Sitka really needs that.” PHS junior TJ Vaughn-Jeske has enjoyed seeing the garden develop and expand in his years at Pacific High. “The amazing harvest — there’s always a lot of vegetables and stuff to pick. A lot of new varieties this year,” he said. “Overall, I’m learning how to sustain myself and grow my own plants, in case I ever wanted to start a farm or garden. When I first got here, we didn’t have that big greenhouse or much of this at all either,” the junior said, gesturing at a series of raised gardening beds. “We used to only have cabbage, garlic and a few others. That’s really how much it changed.” His favorite aspect of the school and its gardening program is “definitely the people, the community that we bring together to pick everything… Just an amazing place in general. The community is super nice, everyone knows each other.” Hard at work cleaning fresh-picked garlic was freshman Skip Votaw. “We’re just learning how to process fresh food out of the garden, cook it,” he said. “It’s healthier than normal school food. This is fresh from a garden turning into our lunch.” He plans to continue his education with the school’s gardening and culinary classes, and appreciates that PHS offers such a comprehensive gardening program. “We have the best food system in all of Southeast Alaska for school lunches,” he said. PHS senior Katie Elder enjoys the gardening program, and has watched the garden grow dramatically through the years. “I’ve been here since I was a sophomore, so I’ve only had a few years’ experience here, and when I first got here, we didn’t have the greenhouse,” she said. “It’s been really nice to have through the summer and up until now even. And I loved helping with the plant sale in the beginning of spring. That was quite a bit of fun. We ended up making quite a bit for our garden program,” Elder said. “My favorite one to grow probably is cabbages, because they get so much bigger and denser than what you can buy in the store, or tomatoes, because fresh tomatoes are way better than store-bought ones,” she said. As a side project, Elder is working with edible mushrooms such as blue and pink oysters and lion’s mane. Pacific High’s gardening program has become a model for others, Mandy Summer said. “We have groups that come in and they want to see what Pacific High School is doing with this farm and food program, because it’s so unique,” the teacher said. “And a lot of other schools have tried small gardens or doing their own food, but I mean, we’re really doing it on what’s becoming a much larger scale. And so it’s just really exciting to see that other people are coming to learn from us as well.”
Sitka Farmers Market manager Debe Brincefield, center, presents the Table of the Day Award for the Aug. 10 Sitka Farmers Market to Rock and Charlene Peterson of Jam-n-Peppers. Rock and Charlene sold jalapeno-pepper-flavored apricot jam. They received a certificate, a tote bag, a selection of Alaska Flour Company products, an Alaska Farmers Markets Cookbook, some produce, and Sitka Farmers Market special label chocolate bars. National Farmers Market Week was Aug. 4-10, and this was part of the celebration. The next Sitka Farmers Market is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street). Vendors can register online (by Thursday night) at https://sitkafarmersmarket.eventsmart.com. More details about the Sitka Local Foods Network and Sitka Farmers Market can be found at http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SITKA LOCAL FOODS NETWORK Sitka Farmers Market manager Debe Brincefield, right, presents the Table of the Day Award for the July 27 Sitka Farmers Market to Cora Nisbet, left, and Jill Scheidt of the Sitka Cancer Survivors Society (not pictured is Bonnie Richards). The society sold quilt raffle tickets and also provided information about grants it offers to cancer patients needing help with treatment. They received a certificate, a tote bag, a selection of Alaska Flour Company products, a bag of salad greens, some rhubarb, and several Sitka Farmers Market special label chocolate bars. National Famrmers Market Week is Aug. 4-10, and the next Sitka Farmers Market is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street). Vendors can register online (by Thursday night) at https://sitkafarmersmarket.eventsmart.com. More details about the Sitka Local Foods Network and Sitka Farmers Market can be found at http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org.
By SHANNON HAUGLAND Daily Sitka Sentinel Staff Writer
At its meeting last Tuesday the Assembly agreed on scoring criteria for judging responses to a request for proposals for a community garden at the end of Jarvis Street.
The request was issued the next day, calling for responses by August 22.
The idea for the community garden came from the Sitka Local Foods Network and another nonprofit, Transition Sitka, with the project intended to serve “the overlapping interests of the two organizations to promote local food security and sustainable food systems.”
The land lease application submitted by the network and Transition Sitka more than a year ago prompted a town hall meeting and discussions at the Assembly and Planning Commission levels. The city identified two possible sites for the garden project, one near the Blatchley Middle School ball field, and the other a more remote site off the end of Jarvis Street. The discussions settled on the Jarvis Street site as the preferred location.
“With a lease we wanted to tailor proposals towards horticulture uses, and particularly those that had a wider spread community benefit towards our strategic plan goals around food security,” City Planning Director Amy Ainslie said.
At the Tuesday Assembly meeting, Ainslie said the opportunity to lease the half-acre parcel at 101 Jarvis Street will be open to everyone through a competitive response process. The city attorney said the project did not meet criteria for an exemption from competitive bidding, which is the usual process for the lease or purchase of land owned by the city.
Assembly members last week said they liked the criteria and the equal weight given to each: experience and qualifications, development plan, operating plan, financial viability and community benefit, with 20 points for each.
The lease structure is for:
an initial term of three years to lay the ground work and complete prep work and planning (e.g. permitting, storm water prevention plan, site remediation.)
first renewal term of two years for building and construction, site preparation, operations.
successive renewal terms of five years, for up to five terms, “if the lessee has remained compliant with all lease requirements.”
Some Assembly members said they wanted to make sure the successful lessee meets goals and milestones, which are built into each of the terms.
Thor Christianson asked whether the lessee could continue moving forward with subsequent phases of development if they reached milestones under the first or second stages of the lease.
Ainslie responded, “I don’t think it would be the intent of the Assembly or the city to hold someone back from construction if they’re ready for it. So I’m confident the language of the lease could accommodate that.”
“I’m happy with this, and hope we get this moving soon,” said Assembly member Kevin Mosher, speaking in favor of the project in general, and point scoring system with equal weight for five criteria.
Christianson said he liked that the RFP would require the responders to show “the totality of the plan and not any one aspect of it, and I think this accomplishes that.”
JJ Carlson acknowledged the challenges of the project, including fundraising and land development. She said she liked the “qualitative” aspect with scoring criteria, instead of a “pass-fail” approach.
Tim Pike said he was in favor of the first two criteria for rating the responses, but wanted to make sure the site would continue to be productive, “just to make sure we’re continuing to meet the mission we say we’re interested in.”
That could include continued access to the site or milestones for food production, Assembly members said.
There was some discussion about whether more requirements were needed but in the end Pike noted, “This is five years away at the earliest. Hopefully they’ll be up and running but we want to make sure they continue.”
Ainslie said that the standard lease terms for city land say lessees are expected to keep the property in good condition, and current with all requirements such as lease payments and insurance. She said the Assembly has provided direction about reporting requirements for upkeep of the site, community benefit and production from the site. With the Assembly’s go-ahead, she said she would add a reporting requirement during the five year renewals.
There was no vote on the lease, but the Assembly approved the minor change that will require a report before the Assembly approves five-year renewals.
Joel Hanson, representing the nonprofits interested in leasing the land, told the Assembly he was concerned about the cost of the infrastructure required in the proposed lease. Hanson is the project manager for Sitka Community Gardens, a project of SLFN and Transition Sitka.
“This would be a reasonable expectation for, say, an apartment complex or some substantial construction project, but we prefer to read it something more like ‘To the extent necessary for project development and operations the proposers will need to install utility service connections,’” he said. “This gives a certain amount of flexibility because at various times with discussions of staff we’ve heard a little bit different take on exactly what will be required.”
In an interview Monday, Hanson said the work is progressing on the community garden, in order to begin development if his group is selected through the RFP process. No other group has expressed interest in starting a community horticulture site on the Jarvis Street property, city staff said. An ordinance for a land lease will require two or more readings at the Assembly table.
The organizing group has been using Juneau Community Garden as a model for the Sitka project. As in Juneau, the Sitka garden will be run as a cooperative association with low-cost seasonal memberships, work obligations for those renting plots, and events for the community. Juneau’s community garden has 170 10-by-20-foot plots and Sitka is planning for 45.
“We already have about 30 percent of the plots spoken for,” although the garden is not expected to open for another two years, Hanson said. “There’s already considerable interest for the project, considering we haven’t even gotten the lease yet.”
Hanson said work is continuing apace, with the assumption that SLFN and Transition Sitka will be the successful responder. In addition to attending meetings at the board and commission levels, Assembly meetings and a town hall, the group has completed a land survey at the site, and received wetlands authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will be required under the RFP.
He anticipates that the required comprehensive drainage plan will take some time, and will require a stamp from a civil engineer.
“There is really nothing substantive to delay actual work on the ground, so hopefully as soon as we’ve got the land lease and the drainage plan approved we can start working on the property,” Hanson said.
The city is expecting the first phase will include plans for operations, site security, and a site layout, among other tasks on the request for proposals list.
Hanson and others in the group are continuing with fundraising plans and grant applications. They have already received grants from Sitka Community Foundation and Sitka Alaska Permanent Charitable Trust.
In citing the need for the community garden, Hanson said there were a number of active gardeners at the last community garden, behind Blatchley Middle School, when it when it closed in 2016. He noted that a community garden is a priority in the last revision of the Sitka Comprehensive Plan.
“Nothing much happened until the city started its Strategic Plan, and the Assembly adopted another goal of establishing a community garden site,” Hanson said. The strategic plan includes an “action” to “convene community partners to develop an action plan that will address food security.” There are a number of notes in the plan that address food security including “securing land for community gardens.”
The lease price is not among the criteria, since the Assembly in its reviews gave staff clear direction that their preference is for a low lease price.
Planning for the garden is continuing to take shape, Hanson said. It includes items such as work areas to stage soil, a storage shed for compost and garden tools, a three-sided shelter for workers to get out of the weather, a restroom, an electrified fence to keep out wildlife, and access to city water.
TABLE OF THE DAY — Sitka Farmers Market manager Debe Brincefield, back row, second from left, presents the Table of the Day Award for the July 13 Sitka Farmers Market to the Sitka Spruce Tips/Alaska Way Of Life 4-H Club, including club advisor Jasmine Shaw (back row, left), Logan Miller, Aven Powell, Madeline Filipek, and AmeriCorps volunteer Romy Bekeris (not pictured is Noah Apathy). The club members, who sold arts and crafts, baked goods, and homemade preserves, were participating in the Sitka Farmers Market youth vendor program for those younger than 14. They received a certificate, a tote bag, a selection of Alaska Flour Company products, a bag of salad greens, some rhubarb, assorted stickers, and several Sitka Farmers Market special label chocolate bars. The next Sitka Farmers Market is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 27, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street). Vendors can register online (by Thursday) at https://sitkafarmersmarket.eventsmart.com. More details about the Sitka Local Foods Network and Sitka Farmers Market can be found at http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SITKA LOCAL FOODS NETWORK TABLE OF THE DAY AWARD: Sitka Farmers Market manager Debe Brincefield, standing, presents the Table of the Day Award for June 29 to Finnegan Grutter, age 5, with her parents Tasha Folsom and Ivan Grutter. Finnegan, who sold baked goods and homemade preserves, was participating in the Sitka Farmers Market youth vendor program for those younger than 14. Ashley received a certificate, a tote bag, a selection of Alaska Flour Company products, and two Sitka Farmers Market special label chocolate bars. The next Sitka Farmers Market is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 13, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street). Vendors can register online (by Thursday) at https://sitkafarmersmarket.eventsmart.com. More details about the Sitka Local Foods Network and Sitka Farmers Market can be found at http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org.
The Sitka Farmers Market will kick off its 17th summer from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Saturday, June 29, at Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street). There are six more markets scheduled for the same time on alternate Saturdays, July 13, July 27, Aug. 10, Aug. 24, Sept. 7, and Sept. 21, at ANB Founders Hall.
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic limited our markets in recent years, forcing us to move and change our format, we’re happy to be getting back to some normalcy this year,” Sitka Local Foods Network board president Charles Bingham said. “While we are still monitoring Covid outbreaks, we won’t do more than encourage masks, not require them, unless we go back to a Moderate or High Risk level. The markets will have othe usual variety of fresh local produce, fish, homemade baked goods, cottage foods, cooked food, arts and crafts, and more. We hope to see you at ANB Founders Hall this summer.”
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).
The Sitka Farmers Market gots its start from the second Sitka Health Summit, held in April 2008, when Sitka residents chose two food-related community wellness projects to work on for the next year — to create a local foods market and to start a community greenhouse. Later in April, St. Peter’s By The Sea Episcopal Church made its backyard available for growing produce, which became St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm communal garden, and by August the first of three Sitka Farmers Markets was held. Those projects led to the creation of the Sitka Local Foods Network. Since then the Sitka Farmers Market has grown, and is known as one of the top markets in the state.
After having to relocate for two years due to COVID-19, we returned to ANB Founders Hall in 2022. We will have indoor and outdoor spaces, inside ANB Founders Hall and outside in the Baranof Island Housing Authority parking lot next to ANB Founders Hall. We’d love to have a few food trucks as a food court in the BIHA parking lot.
Since COVID-19 is still around, we will encourage masks inside the ANB Founders Hall unless Sitka is at the Moderate/Medium or High risk levels. While most people now are vaccinated against the coronavirus, there still are people who are high risk medically, or 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.
In 2020, we launched our online vendor registration website, http://sitkafarmersmarket.eventsmart.com, and we will continue to use that this year. Vendors need to register by the Thursday before each market to be guaranteed a spot. Tables/booths are $40 each, with a special of $240 (instead of $280) for someone registering for all seven markets before the first one takes place. We also have a youth vendor program, where youth ages 14 or younger can reserve a table for $20 for the full season. Since we are at Low on the COVID-19 risk level right now, we are offering half-tables this year at $25 each.
Please read the market vendor rules and responsibilities on our online registration website. All vendors using this site to register for the market will be held to these rules. 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 refund for 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. This is $5 less than the $40 or $25 table fees, since we are billed for transaction fees and other expenses. There is no refund if you don’t let us know until after Wednesday.
Debe Brincefield is the new 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. Brincefield was market manager in 2014-15.
In addition to vendors, we also are looking for volunteers to help us set up the markets, take down the markets, and sell produce at the Sitka Local Foods Network farm stand during the market. You can get more information about how to volunteer by emailing sitkafarmersmarket@gmail.com or contacting Brincefield at 907-738-4323.
Learn the basics of starting and running a home-based foods business as Sarah Lewis teaches students How to Start a Cottage Foods Business from 4:30-6 p.m. on Monday, June 24, via Zoom.
This class is to help vendors prepare for the upcoming Sitka Farmers Markets hosted by the Sitka Local Foods Network.
Sarah Lewis — the home, health and family development agent for the Juneau office of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service — will teach this class by videoconference from Juneau. Students will learn about state laws regarding home food businesses, and get ideas for businesses you might take to the Sitka Farmers Market or local trade shows. The first part will be spent discussing food safety rules and regulations, and the second part of the class will be for questions and answers.
The Sitka Local Foods Network is offering students of this class half off their Sitka Farmers Market vendor fee for the first market of the season where they host a table. Representatives from the Sitka Local Foods Network/Sitka Farmers Market and (hopefully) the Sitka food safety office of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are planning to attend so they can answer any questions potential cottage foods business owners may have.
For more information and to get the Zoom link, contact Charles Bingham at sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com or 907-623-7660.
St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm lead gardener Laura Schmidt arranges vegetables before a 2023 Sitka Farmers Market.
Vendor registration is open for the 2024 Sitka Farmers Markets. This 17th annual community event is hosted by the Sitka Local Foods Network, a nonprofit working to improve Sitka’s food security. The online vendor registration page, http://sitkafarmersmarket.eventsmart.com, is live and ready for vendors to sign up and pre-pay for their spots.
This summer the Sitka Local Foods Network is hosting seven markets from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays — June 29, July 13, July 27, Aug. 10, Aug. 24, Sept. 7, and Sept. 21 — at Alaska Native Brotherhood Founders Hall (235 Katlian Street), where we held 13 of our first 15 years of markets. This will be our 15th year at ANB out of 17 seasons.
All vendors will pay $40 per market for a full table inside or outside or to bring a food truck, and $25 for a half table inside. We have a special rate of $240 for vendors who register for all seven markets before the first market happens, which means you pay for six markets and get one market free. Vendors can register for one or two markets, or all seven. We also have a youth vendor program for ages 14 and younger, which is $20 for all seven 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 are back at ANB Hall again this summer, and we plan to bring back half tables after dropping them to help spread out the crowds with COVID-19. 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. We are back to selling half-tables this year after not having them because we needed to have social-distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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 $35 refund for full-table and outside cancellations or $20 for a half-table cancellation, 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.
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. We are back to selling half-tables this year after not having them because we needed to have social-distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Sitka Local Foods Network 
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