In last weekend’s paper Daily World Publisher Mike Hrycko invited readers to share stories with us about how the coronavirus has affected their lives. What are your stories? We’d like to print as many as we have room for. Send them to mhrycko@thedailyworld.com.
By Isa “Kitty” Mady
Montesano
A recent “World Gone By” column in The Daily World made mention of my vision 25years ago to one day have an indoor home for the Grays Harbor Farmers Market & Craft Fair. A few days later I found a two-page Daily World article written by Katherine Hedland about the dedication of the Market’s new home in Hoquiam. I’d dated it ‘3-25-95’ and it filed away.
Finding this article 25 years later illustrates my belief that thoughts are energy and energytravels. So, if your wish is a worthy one for helping others, as so many are doing now during this horrible pandemic, wishes can come true, and by working together, we will put an end to this pox on our community.
The article’s headline said that the “Farmers Market puts down roots in Hoquiam.” “Ahome of its own” a large banner exclaimed with pride. Featured was the market’s dedication ceremony of its new 2,000 square foot building that was built in partnership by the City of Hoquiam and Americorps and in response to letters I’d written to potential benefactors and presentations I’d made to civic groups.
The author described my vision for a permanent building where vendors could come in out of the rain and sell year-round. “We are now seeing the fruition of something she dreamed,” said Market President Verona Latta.
Accompanying pictures featured Hoquiam Mayor Phyllis Shrauger, AmeriCorps members John Park and Jamie Antich, site supervisor Mike Yonich, some 100 government brass, city workers and market supporters, and me, the former president at my Broadway Avenue booth one summer. It was a proud day for all of us, with more to come on opening day April 15.
My vision had included a communal kitchen for our food vendors to make their products legally because health regulations were beginning to disallow commercial sales of food made at home. And since my dreams are always big, this one included a cider press and an industrial size canner for customer rental during harvest season (as was once done at the West Coast Cannery on Simpson Avenue.) I also saw vocational training opportunities, considering the abundance of talent among our vendors. Last on my wish list was the ability to serve the whole community by accepting food stamps.
Farmers markets are always positive draws for any community and ours was no exception — our customers loved us! Especially in the early 1990s when we participated in the renewal of “Historic F Street” by renting an old machine shop. The building was just across the river from the Grays Harbor Historic Seaport and the Lady Washington. In addition, with a devilish nod to a popular area industry at one time, Seaport Board chairman Tori Kovach was planning to open an Aberdeen Historic Whorehouse Museum next door!
Readying our building for occupancy first required removal of decades of grime, serious electrical upgrades, tables for vendors, and asbestos removal by one of our members who was actually a removal specialist — also a carpenter who later built me a cedar wishing well for collecting goods for the needy when he heard me voice such a wish.
Nancy Lachel and I did the sand blasting; market men on tall ladders camouflaged the ugly sheet metal walls with colorful panels of burlap; Steve Collette brought help to build heavy duty vendor tables; a councilman gave us a large glass sliding door, and I later came by seven large windows from one of Aberdeen’s bordellos – quite possibly from F Street originally! The next logical step was to build a deck overlooking the river.
Once we opened, the Seaport Shanty Singers came by on Saturdays, further drawing crowds to Historic F Street. My greatest joy was singing along with them! But it wasn’t to last.
After draining our treasury to turn the building into a magical place we lost the location in a dispute with our landlord. He wanted a shared community use building, which would have compromised the security of vendors’ products.
Now homeless, Jan Jackson, the Wishkah Mall manager, offered us very low rent if we would move there as our presence would draw sorely needed new tenants. Moving was of epic proportions, but again we had help. One friend, alone with a homemade Ultralight airplane trailer, spent days just hauling our new tables, and my precious windows into storage.
Our presence in the mall indeed drew new tenants, and it was nice to be warm and dry through the winter holidays, but it just wasn’t a real farmers’ market atmosphere. The perfect holiday gift to counter that longing was Phyllis Shrauger’s invitation to Hoquiam.
Now, 25 years later, I feel tremendous pride in what the market has become, and much gratitude to all those who made it happen.
That same pride brings tears to my eyes again as each day brings news about another selfless act by the small town generosity of neighbors helping neighbors in this critical time of need. Thank you, Harborites.
(Several pictures of the Market in its early days are in my new book, “The Best of Me,”
available at the Farmers’ Market.)
