By Alia Sinclair
Last summer (2024), the SeaTac City Council allocated $100,000 of federally provided American Rescue Plan Act covid-related recovery funding to a 2024 limited-scope monthly SeaTac Farmers Market program.
At the time, the City contracted with African Community & Housing Development (ACHD) to site, create and operate the market pilot program to evaluate whether there is demand for a market in SeaTac from community members, vendors, small local businesses, and farmers.
The initial pilot program was located at the Matt Griffin YMCA and ran monthly from July to November 2024 with an additional two winter markets in December 2024 and January 2025 at The Roadhouse at Angle Lake Station & Plaza.
The stats from last year show the market was well attended by both vendors and customers. On average, each market attracted 500-600 customers and 15-17 vendors. Average sales per market were approximately $7,000.
Due to the previous market’s success and the demand from community members, ACHD proposed to council that the market be expanded from a monthly gathering to a weekly gathering.
The impact on the budget would be $120,000 from the General Fund and the breakdown is as follows:
The market model includes food vouchers and a produce buy-back program to support local farmers and manage perishable goods inventories. Any unsold produce is bought back under the program and then re-distributed with priority to SeaTac residents.
The ACHD also envisions expanding the market with three community pillars in mind—food justice, economic development, and health equity.
The council and the ACHD hope that the market will attract attendees from Seattle and beyond so that the market will be able to enjoy sustainable growth for years to come.
Councilmember Simpson spoke about his excitement for the market’s future:
“I do want to speak to how awesome this project is. I mean, this is laying the groundwork for something. It’s a gift to our city really, where we can, you know, highlight what the city is actually about. Celebrating the rich diversity, celebrating our small businesses, making sure that people have a place to congregate every week over fruits and vegetables, but it’ not just about fruit and vegetables, right? Like, we’re doing something groundbreaking here that’s going to show long term viability for a permanent market here and it’s an incredible program.”
View the full pitch deck presented to the council here.
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