Farmers market: Celebrating 20 years of growing on Saturday - Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader - Port Townsend, Jefferson County & Olympic Peninsula's news website - Port Townsend, WA

2001-2005 Port Townsend Farmers Market Director, Harvindar Singh, takes a stroll through the last market of the season and his career.

Seeds of the Port Townsend Farmers Market were planted 20 years ago in a gravel lot downtown between Elevated Ice Cream Co. and the Cotton Building.

Vendors at that market, such as Denise Joy, remember that the wind swept in so hard off the bay that even on a hot summer day, “it felt like 40 degrees in the wind tunnel.”

Consequently, the market was relocated to another lot, a block away behind City Hall, which offered shelter from the wind. Tended by a community keen on going local and organic, the market blossomed, so much so that it needed to be transplanted yet again – to an entire block of Tyler Street in Uptown.

And that is where it blooms again on Saturday, April 7 for what is being touted as the market’s 20th anniversary season, though some who’ve been around for longer than that roll their eyes and say the market really is a more mature 21 years old.

But who wants to quibble with anniversary dates right before Easter?

Market director Will O’Donnell, who was a sophomore in high school, eager to get his driver’s license, 20 years ago, is looking forward to the day and the 2012 market year.

Farmers market: Celebrating 20 years of growing on Saturday - Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader - Port Townsend, Jefferson County & Olympic Peninsula's news website - Port Townsend, WA