Hooray for Local

Spokane’s newest outdoor market opened quietly on Friday in the parking lot at the Center on Sixth (1717 W. Sixth Ave.) with a handful of vendors selling everything from hand-chopped salsa to beaded jewelry to hand-dipped chocolate truffles from the French Quarter. Market organizer Nathan White is a big fan of the Portland Saturday Market, the waterfront arts and crafts marketplace that’s been part of that city’s scene since 1974, and he’s hoping to create a similar venue for Spokane.

Another new market this year is the Community Roots Market, hosted by Fresh Abundance at its North Division store (2015 N. Division). The market has been happening on the third Sunday of each month since early this year, but starting on June 14, the outdoor local products market — featuring about 35 vendors selling produce, meats and locally produced crafts — will be open every Sunday through the summer.

Once the season is in full swing, shoppers seeking local foods and crafts will be able to find a market nearly every day of the week. This week, look for bedding plants, potted starts of herbs and vegetables, plus a few early greens, rhubarb, eggs, meat, honey and prepared foods. Here’s who’s open when:

• Coeur d’Alene Farmers Market, Fifth Ave. between Sherman and Front, Coeur d’Alene, is open Wednesdays from 4-6 pm.

• Friday Market, 1717 W. Sixth Ave., is open Fridays from 8 am-2 pm.

• Kootenai County Farmers Market, Highway 95 at Prairie Ave., Hayden, Idaho, is open Saturdays from 8 am-1 pm.

• Liberty Lake Farmers Market, 1421 N. Meadowwood Ln. (Liberty Square parking lot), Liberty Lake, Wash., is open Saturdays, 9 am-1 pm.

• Millwood Farmers Market, 3223 N. Marguerite Rd. (at Millwood Presbyterian Church), Millwood, Wash., is open Wednesdays from 3-7 pm.

• Montfort Farmers Market, 1915 W. Monroe Rd. (Montfort School Community Center), Colbert, Wash., is open Thursdays from 4-7 pm.

• Moscow Farmers Market, Friendship Square, Main Street at Fourth, Moscow, Idaho, is open Saturdays from 8 am-noon.

• Pend Oreille Farmers Market, Spruce and Union St., Newport, Wash., is open Saturdays from 9 am-1 pm.

• Pullman Farmers Market, 245 SE Paradise Rd. (Old Post Office Wine Bar), Pullman, Wash., is open Wednesdays from 4:30-6:30 pm.

• Sandpoint Farmers Market, Farmin Park, Third and Main streets, Sandpoint, Idaho, is open Saturdays from 9 am-1 pm. (The market will also be open on Wednesdays from 3-5:30 pm starting in June.)

• Spokane Farmers Market, Second Ave. at Division, is open Saturdays from 8 am-1 pm. (The market will open on Wednesdays from 8 am-1 pm starting in June.)

Starting May 29, Cheney Farmers Market, First St. and College Ave., Cheney, Wash., will be open Fridays, 10 am-3 pm. (The market also will open on first and third Saturdays from 9 am-1 pm, through the summer, starting June 6.) We hear that the Airway Heights Farmers Market will be open on Thursdays from 9 am-1 pm starting May 28, but we haven’t received confirmation. And June 4 will see the opening of the South Perry Farmers Market (1317 E. 12th Ave.), in the parking lot of Christ Community Church, running Thursdays from 3-7 pm. Happy local shopping! — ANN M. COLFORD