Summer market coming to hall

LYNNWOOD — Before it became a city in 1959, much of what today is known as Lynnwood was called Alderwood Manor.

Farms dotted the area, from the south county line to Lake Serene, and Alderwood Manor was a major producer of eggs.

Heidi Phillips and Shelly Moquin weren’t here in those days but they hope to bring a touch of the old country back soon.

They’re organizing what they’re calling the Lynnwood/Halls Lake Sunday Market, which will run weekly from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 20 through August at the Cedar Valley Grange Hall, 20526 52nd Ave. W.

“We’ve got about 20 vendors so far,” Moquin said. “It’s coming along. The hardest part is getting the vegetable farmers. They don’t really grow a lot of stuff around here.”

Phillips and Moquin, both members of the Grange, knew the organization, founded by farmers in the 1800s, had long been interested in creating a farmers market.

Moquin and Phillips spoke to farmers market organizers in Edmonds and Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood before they settled on the look and feel they seek.

The Lynnwood/Halls Lake Sunday Market will be a “European style” market, the first of its kind in Snohomish County, Moquin said. That means that in addition to offering produce, vendors will sell old-world treasures.

“We have a lady with vintage furniture and another lady with vintage clothing,” Moquin said, adding that volunteers are needed to help on Sundays.

Harry Sherman, president of the Cedar Valley Grange, said the market will operate under the auspices of the Grange.

“We’ve had the farmers market on our burner for quite some time, but these girls came along and said ‘we want to do something,’ so we said ‘go for it,’” Sherman said.

Lynnwood Historical Commission member Marie Little said the city’s never had a farmers market but farming was the area’s chief business for many years.

“They weren’t all poultry farms,” she said. “At some point, poultry farms sort of gave way to mink ranches.”

And there were strawberry farms. Little said until the 1950s, there was a strawberry farm close to the intersection of 44th Avenue West and I-5, about a mile east of the Grange.

Moquin said she got the idea for a market after reading an article in the Enterprise about Maria Ambalada, a neighborhood activist and Lynnwood Planning Commission member who also wanted to start a public market with a focus on helping local residents sell their goods.

Allowable items for sale, in addition to produce, will include artisan crafts, photography, furniture, clothing, jewelry, recycled products, pet furnishings, homemade soaps, lotions, bath products and kids’ toys.

Lynnwood, Moquin said, needs a market to add community spirit.

“Other cities have parades, etc.,” she said. “Lynnwood doesn’t really bring people together. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to do this.”