Maria N.
Yelp
We've recently moved from downtown Seattle to Sammamish, so the concept of going to a farmers market regularly is pretty new to me: I've gone to a couple in Seattle but they were really expensive and IMHO not worth it. Well, the story is different with Issaquah.
First off, it's fun. And if you have kids, they'll be asking to go every weekend. So far, we've seen a reptile petting zoo (you could pet an alligator!), gone a thousand times down the bouncy house slides (absolutely free), and listened (and danced!) to a lot of local music. This has become our favorite thing to do every Saturday morning.
Parking is easy and we've never had a problem finding a spot. It's always busy and good stuff sells out fast so you probably want to get here before 11.
On the actual market: the produce varies from week to week and everything is super seasonal. Now that I've become a regular, I have my farmers that I like to buy certain things from. I have bought the best tomatoes and cucumbers here (we literally stopped buying these anywhere else - sorry, Costco!), young potatoes and beans, lots of herbs (I love my fresh mint tea and could eat cardboard if it's covered with dill), and various fruit (peaches and apricots last week!) and berries (though, to be fair, the berries are a bit pricey if you ask me). I've bought fresh flowers here as well and they last well and are pretty unique.
A couple of times, you could buy fresh eggs and milk, but it's been spotty.
You can buy home-made pasta, sauces, and jams, as well as honey. There are a lot of food vendors so you can easily grab breakfast and/or lunch here. My favorite is the pig truck but I have not had all of the food yet!
You can also buy some pretty unique gifts like crochet hats and wooden puzzles, as well as blown glass and carved wood art.
A couple of tips that I learned the hard way:
- bring a good, sturdy bag. This stuff is heavy and it's bulky (think carrots with carrot tops, big bunches of leafy greens, maybe fresh eggs). And it's likely you'll end up buying more than you thought you would.
- consider bringing a plastic container for berries (otherwise, they are very fragile and hard to carry)
- buy your berries last! they make it really hard to browse the rest of the market (first-time mistake!)
- bring cash and change (though there is an ATM inside the Pickering Farm building)
- wear a hat if it's sunny!
Last but not least: Costco is right across the street so you can easily kill two birds with one stone (not sure if it's okay to use this phrase in a farmers market review!).
Have fun while the summer is here.