Seattle Press on Line - Farmers and Crafters Find Happiness in Ballard

Farmers and Crafters Find Happiness in Ballard

By Adam Richter

Selling crafts at the new Ballard Sunday Market.

Sep 13, 2001 -- It's been four weeks since the Fremont Farmer's Market pulled up stakes and landed in Ballard. While the departure didn't have the same devastating impact as, say, when Boeing quit the great Northwest for Chicago, several vendors are grateful for the move.

"When they moved me to Ballard I was a happy camper," said Cynthia Tardiff, part-time jewelry maker and owner of Sassy Class, Ltd.

Tardiff, who used to sell her jewelry at the Edmonds Farmers Market and the Fremont Sunday Market, said the flea-market atmosphere hurt craftspeople like her, who either did not want to or could not haggle on their prices.

"Ballad's 100 percent better than Fremont," said Roberto V. Guerrero, an organic farmer who keeps a fruit stand at the Ballard Farmer's Market. In Fremont, he said, the business tended to drop off after August.

On the second Sunday in September, though, he rated the crowd a seven on a scale of one to ten.

For some vendors the Ballard Sunday Market sprang to life just in time. Michael Ostrogorsky and Hope McCourt started Green Wing Gardens in Ballard to grow medicinal herbs and exotic plants four weeks ago--just around the same time the Ballard Farmer's Market opened.

"Every week we've been doubling our sales," said Ostrogorsky.

For Green Wing Gardens, part of the attraction is the popularity of alternative medicines.

"There's a lot of interest in medicinal herbs these days," Ostrogorsky said. Not quite enough to run their business full-time, though; Ostrogorsky currently works as an editor for a publishing company, but he said he and McCourt look forward to owning their own business down the road.

Emery Webber drives from Cashmere, Washington each week for the farmer's market. He used to operate in Fremont and called the Ballard Farmer's Market "every bit as good" as its predecessor in Fremont.

The business he gets is worth the trip, he said, calling his customers "a fine, fine bunch of people."

Tisbury Pringle, a glassblowing artist from Ballard, used to sell her glass sea creatures at the Fremont Sunday Market. Like Tardiff, Pringle said she likes the Ballard Farmer's Market more.

"Getting away from the flea market has been a good thing," she said. "I think Ballard's needed this for a while."

Most of the vendors who criticized Fremont did not like its flea-market atmosphere. A possible advantage for Ballard--and Fremont--is that it's not another Fremont Sunday Market. Chances are this distinction will allow both vibrant marketplaces to peacefully coexist--much like Boeing and its corporate headquarters.

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