Friday, Workshops Session 1

🥕 WIC & Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program: Resiliency in 2025

Katherine Flores, WIC FMNP, WA State Department of Health
Cameron Akita, Senior FMNP, WA State Department of Social and Health Services

This session is designed for farmers market managers and growers, offering an overview of advancements and policy updates for the WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Programs (FMNP) in 2025. Attendees will receive critical insights into technological innovations, program enhancements, and strategies for improving vendor and participant engagement. The interactive discussion will focus on navigating changes, maximizing program impact, and ensuring long-term sustainability for WIC and Senior FMNP in 2025

🥕 Bridging the Gap: Strengthening Farmers Market-City Partnerships

Damien Davis, Pasco Farmers Market
Erika Anderson, Port Orchard Farmers Market
Heidi Fenton, Port Orchard City Council and FM Board

Discover how to build thriving, mutually beneficial relationships between farmers’ markets and city governments. This interactive seminar provides actionable insights into navigating city policies, securing permits, and collaborating with local officials to create vibrant community marketplaces. Learn best practices, tackle common challenges, and explore innovative strategies for improving communication, advocating for local food systems, and driving economic and cultural benefits for both markets and municipalities. Whether you’re a market organizer or city official, this workshop equips you with the tools to cultivate lasting partnerships.

🥕 “I’m Licensed With WSDA” What does that mean?

Dan Mason, Food Safety Program, Washington State Department of Agriculture
Keren LaCourse, Food Safety Program, Washington State Department of Agriculture

Once any raw carrot, cucumber, pepper, or any other product is cut, canned, packaged, baked, mixed or any other form of “processing,” food safety regulations come into play. In this workshop, WSDA’s Dan Mason and Keren LaCourse will help farmers market managers and vendors understand when a product qualifies to be permitted under the Cottage Food Program and what the rules are. This permit is for home-based businesses with certain low risk products that are direct marketed to consumers. They will also help you clarify when a WSDA Food Processor license is required for certain products; and what to ask vendors for to know they are properly licensed.

Bonus! This workshop will also include an opportunity to meet staff from the WSDA Organic Program, Pest Management, and Regional Markets. Hear what their role is at WSDA and how they can help your market and vendors.

Friday, Workshops Session 2

🥕 Making Sense of the Alphabet Soup: Food Access Programs Explained

Rebeccah Landerholm, Poulsbo Farmers Market

While we’re lucky to have several food access programs at farmers markets, keeping them straight can be a huge part of the job! So many F’s, N’s, P’s and S’s. In this workshop, you’ll get strong grounding in each program and have time to ask questions. We’ll also share “food access training kits” with all the multiple currencies and practice shopper scenarios together. Already a pro? This workshop is a “train the trainer” style. Come learn how to train your volunteers, vendors and shoppers in friendly and clear ways they will remember.

🥕 Board Roadmap: Building a Board that Works for Your Farmers Market

Laura Skelton, Valtas Group

We all love our farmers market! But far fewer people also love setting policies, meetings, making hard decisions, fundraising, managing staff, and ensuring your nonprofit organization is following local, state and even federal rules. And yet without a dedicated group of people willing to set up and serve on farmers market boards, many markets will struggle to achieve their full potential and mission. In this workshop, nonprofit expert and practitioner, Laura Skelton of the Valtas Group will share practical tools and guidelines to give your board the roadmap it needs to communicate effectively, have confidence that you’re in compliance legally, and build a positive and purposeful community in support of your farmers market.

🥕 Marketing for Your Farmers Market: Tips and Tricks from the Jefferson County Farmers Markets

Amanda Milholland, Jefferson County Farmers Markets
Holly Erikson, Jefferson County Farmers Markets

Learn from the Jefferson County Farmers Markets’ recent project to up their marketing game for the Port Townsend and Chimacum Farmers Markets. This presentation will address using shopper feedback to identify effective marketing messages in their advertising and targeting what drives people to the market. Amanda and Holly will share tips and tricks for creating ad consistency and quality. They will cover topics from building a brand guide to creative approaches for securing financial support to market your farmers market.

Friday, Workshops Session 3

🥕 Give More: Increasing SNAP Market Match Funding for Your Market

Elizabeth Clark, Enumclaw Plateau Farmers Market
Jeremy Kindlund, Sedro Wooley Farmers Market
Amanda Weyrauch, SNAP Market Match at the WA Department of Health

The SNAP Market Match program is a popular food access program around the state, providing shoppers up to $25 more to spend on fruits and vegetables at the farmers market. In this workshop, you will hear from farmers market leaders who have found creative ways to increase their matching programs. With funding that they raise on their own, these farmers markets are able to match more shopper benefits. Farmers market leaders will share why they decided to increase incentives, how they secured funding, and how it works for them. Amanda Weyrauch, from the Dept of Health’s SNAP Market Match program, will also share how to check all the boxes if your organization decides to explore independent incentive matching at your farmers market.

🥕 Money In, Money Out: Creating Your Farmers Market Budget

Jocelyn Campbell, Alchemilla Services LLC
April Sims, Poulsbo Farmers Market

In this workshop, Jocelyn Campbell of Alchemilla Services LLC and April Sims of the Poulsbo Famers Market will share their expertise on building a great farmers market budget. This includes stepping back and thinking about what budget model works best for your farmers market. What best serves your mission? What proportion of your revenue comes from vendor fees vs other sources – and why? Mapping out where you want to be in three years in terms of revenue and expenses? This workshop will also explain the core accounting requirements for nonprofits in Washington state and address common questions such as employees vs contractors, payroll and taxes, and quirky tips on everything from sponsorships to raffle tickets.

🥕 Let’s Eat! Designing an Ideal Mix of Prepared Food and Food Trucks at Your Farmers Market

Pam Saito, Sammamish Farmers Market, Five Hooks Seafood
Kelli Diann Gordon, Issaquah Farmers Market

Creating a great mix of prepared food at farmers markets is a delicate balance. Leave this workshop with a plateful of piping hot knowledge and the confidence to recruit great ready-to-eat options at your market. From truck length, to generators, line management, permits, and waste, long-time manager, Kelli Diann Gordon, and food truck owner and new manager, Pam Saito will touch on all the facets of working successfully with prepared food vendors in tents and trucks.

Saturday, Workshop Sessions 4

🥕 Pricing with Purpose: Navigating the World of Vendor Fees

Kelsey Allan, Vancouver Farmers Market
Chelsea Anderson, Finnriver Farm & Cidery

Setting vendor’s booth fees can be one of the trickiest decisions a farmers market makes. On the one hand, we all want vendors to be as profitable as possible. On the other, farmers markets have real costs to cover and need to be self-sustaining in order to do the best job possible for vendors. In this session, Kelsey Allan, Director of Operations at the Vancouver Farmers Market, will dive deep into the art (and occasional drama) of setting booth fees without sending vendors running for the hills or straining your market’s budget. Through a case study of the Vancouver Farmers Market’s fee structures for both their large and small markets, Kelsey will share key questions to ask, lessons learned, and strategies for crafting clear, thoughtful fee models that promote the longevity of your market while supporting the success of small businesses. Joining Kelsey, Chelsea Anderson will share her insightful perspectives as a vendor who has sold at many different farmers markets over the last eight years. Whether you’re a market manager looking to strengthen your fee model or a vendor curious about the process, this session has something for you!

🥕 Innovations in WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program Shopper Outreach

Lindsay Irion, Public Health Seattle & King County
Amanda Milholland, Jefferson County Farmers Markets

With the shift to electronic benefits, there have also been shifts in how partners and markets connect to Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Senior FMNP shoppers. In this workshop, you’ll hear about two innovative approaches that have been piloted. Lindsay Irion, of Public-Health Seattle & King County, modernized communication with WIC participants and forged partnerships with farmers markets to expand the reach of WIC. Loaded with data, Lindsay will share what’s working in King County. Amanda Milholland, Director of the Jefferson County Farmers Markets has innovated on the Senior FMNP side. Her organization served as the Senior FMNP administrator in Jefferson County in 2024, the first farmers market in Washington to serve in this role for their county. In 2025, plans are in the works for the Jefferson County Farmers Market to hopefully expand Senio FMNP services into Clallam County in partnership with local food banks and farmers markets.

🥕 Action Lab: Building and Refreshing Your Manager Binder: Part 1

Cali Osborne, Cascade Community Markets

Everything you and your staff need for a successful market day should be on hand at your farmers market Information Booth. But what IS everything you need to succeed? In this hands-on “Action Lab,” Cali Osborne, Cascade Community Markets, will share her tips and tricks. Together, you’ll walk through every file, policy, form and resource you need to get organized and ready for a smooth season. Materials and templates will be available to download, customize, and consolidate everything in one place so you’re ready to go home, hit print, and drop it all in a binder.

Saturday, Workshops Session 5

🥕 Miraculous! The Art and Science of Scheduling Vendors

Matt Kelly, Queen Anne Farmers Market

Creating the ideal vendor and product mix that maximizes sales and keeps shoppers coming back all season long is the holy grail of farmers market management. In this workshop, Matt Kelly shares seasoned manager strategies and tools for scheduling vendors collected from markets of all sizes. Learn best practices for building out your market roster and creating vendor/product mixes for each market day; managing absences and how to adjust your market layout (in real-time); as well as when and how to include community groups and other non-vendors.

🥕Advocacy for Farmers Markets: State Funding, Smart Policymaking, and Supporting our Partners

Claire Lane, Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition 

Public policies and programs at every level – city, state, and federal – impact our farmers markets. Lawmakers affect what the rules are, what is funded, what opportunities are available to our vendors, farmers, shoppers, and market organizations. In this workshop, Claire Lane will share advocacy tools that you can use to support issues this year, whether in the current legislative session or the federal Farm Bill. She’ll also highlight key bills to be tracking and ways for you to get involved, including joining her at Hunger Action Day in Olympia on Monday, Feb 24.

🥕 Action Lab: Building and Refreshing Your Manager Binder: Part 2

Cali Osborne, Cascade Community Markets

Part 2 of the hands-on “Action Lab.”