The Chimacum Farmers Market celebrates its 15th anniversary season this Sunday, June 4.

The market runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Chimacum Corner Farmstand.

Festivities kick off with an official twine-cutting ceremony and group photo. Throughout the day, there will be live music and a variety of kid-friendly activities; the Organic Seed Alliance will be hosting a kids’ activity related to seeds. There will also be a market scavenger hunt, big bubbles, piglets to visit, and a tractor from Creaky Knees Farm to check out.

A total of 14 new vendors join the market for the 2023 season, including One Root Tree Farm, Strait Up Shrooms, The Lavender Connection, Woodbridge Farm, Sasquatch Botanicals, Sol Smoothies, Viking Ice Cream, Wild Crow Pie Co., CAPstudioBoutique, Eaglemount Artworks, Joyful Pendulums, Ironbearmarine, Port Townsend Glassworks, Whylom Candle Makers, and Woodland Metalsmith.

The market will also welcome back long-time vendors including Red Dog Farm, Three Strands Handwoven, and Gypsy Coffeehouse.

“The Chimacum Farmers Market is like an extended family,” said Ann Norton of Three Strands Handwoven. “The vendors are so helpful to each other, offering a hand in the morning set up and take down at the end of a busy day.”

Amanda Milholland, the executive director of Jefferson County Farmers Markets, has watched the Chimacum Farmers Market evolve from a small setup on the grass behind the Chimacum Corner Farmstand (with an average of only eight to 12 vendors) to a bustling bazaar of 36 vendors offering a diverse array of local products to attract the attention of the community.

This has been a labor of love for Milholland.

Before working with the markets, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda. While there, she purchased most of her food from neighboring farmers. Upon her return to the United States, she struggled with the culture shock of mass food availability, completely disconnected from the people who grew it.

“In response, I put a lot of energy towards developing a personal relationship with my food. Growing a garden, shopping at farmers markets, and preserving food was fulfilling and personally meaningful,” Milholland explained.

So she asked herself, “How do I bring my skills in nonprofit leadership and program development to my community while also connecting to my passion for supporting local food?”

The answer came when the Jefferson County Farmers Markets hired her in 2015. She balances her work in the office with spending time at both the Port Townsend and Chimacum markets, interacting with local growers and makers of the community.

“This job is a great fit for me,” she said. “I love that it allows me to connect with local agriculture, support farmers, and foster a community connection to locally grown food.”

Milholland is especially excited for this market season. She and her colleagues are working on a community survey to be released in the coming months, aimed to help clarify what their vendors and the community wants from the markets so they can hone in on how to strengthen what is already offered.