Northwest Market Puts Down Roots
Northwest Market. Photo by Amy Nieto.
Portland Farmers Market has long had a market in Northwest Portland, but circumstances caused us to play musical chairs with the location a few times. Now enjoying its second season in a tree-lined lot across from Trinity Cathedral, our Northwest Market has truly found a home and is becoming the community focal point we always envisioned it would be.
As with all other Portland Farmers Market locations, Northwest Market shoppers eligible for SNAP benefits are able to receive $1 tokens using their Oregon Trail Card to purchase fresh local food. Additionally, SNAP recipients can receive a dollar-for-dollar match (up to $7) through Fresh Exchange, a program of Farmers Market Fund.
Our Northwest Market is located at the corner of NW 19th and Everett and runs through September on Thursday afternoons from 3-7pm. Farmers and food artisans are waiting to fill your market basket with produce, meat, eggs, cheese, wine, baked goods, flowers and more. You can read more about our vendors in these NW Examiner articles profiling Serious Business Pastries (pg. 27), La Terra Vita and Ravenhill Farms (pg. 24), and Winters Farms (pg. 18).
If you still have yet to swing by this bustling market, here are several reasons why you shouldn’t wait a moment longer:
The lovely Anna Curtin always draws a crowd on Senior Bingo days
Senior Bingo!
When: Third Thursday of each month
What: Seniors are invited to stop by and learn more about the market, then join our very own Anna Curtin for a rousing game of fruit & veggie bingo (6 rounds, running from 3-6pm), complete with prizes from market vendors. Recent prizes have included peaches, eggs, berries, corn, squash, potatoes, cheese and tomatoes. Come early to snag a coveted seat and vote on what market prizes you’d like to win!
You could win this! Photo by Amy Nieto
Portlandivore Program
When: Drawing takes place the last market of each month
What: This frequent shopper promotion gives shoppers who visit the market three times a month the chance to enter to win a basket of $30 worth of market goodies. Stop by the Information Booth to pick up your card, have it initialed each time you come to the market and turn it in to market staff on or before the last Thursday of the month.
Coffee + ice = nice. Thank you World Cup.
Taste the Place
When: Second Thursday of each month
What: Nearby restaurants and cafes visit the market to meet their neighbors and sample their wares. In September, stop by to see what tempting treat Touché Restaurant will bring to market. Past visitors have included Elephants Deli, who offered strawberry shortcakes made with sweet market berries and World Cup Coffee & Tea, who refreshed shoppers with samples of iced coffee. Our star NW volunteer Barb Skinner writes about World Cup’s visit below.
Taste the Place: World Cup Coffee & Tea
By Barb Skinner
The iced Brazilian roast with floral accents drew thirsty and un-caffeinated market shoppers to the World Cup Coffee booth at the NW Market in July. Thankful smiles and many comments on the “delicious coffee” that “wasn’t too acidic” followed the free samples.
World Cup Coffee is a Portland gem – offering so much more than a delightful staff and quintessential Portland coffee shop environment to our neighborhood for over 20 years. They also have a roasting operation which provides complete coffee services to local businesses – espresso machine rental and repair, coffee beans, etc – as well as roasting for espresso and whole bean sales in their NW and Powell’s City of Books locations.
The differences in local roasting and conventional roasting are most notable for the length of time the coffee sits on the shelf before purchase (days or weeks vs. multiple months). Small batch, local roasting offers fresh beans with optimal retention of moisture and flavor.
A big thanks to World Cup for their support of Portland Farmers Market and local, sustainable business practices!
