Mountains of fruits and veggies will bring color to 4th Street, live music from buskers will fill the quiet Ellensburg air and our sleepy town will brim with energy starting Saturday, May 4. It’s the long-awaited arrival of market season as flowers bloom in the hills, marking signs of spring.
“I think Ellensburg is kind of a unique situation where we have all these farmers growing all these really really cool things,” Alana Jacobs, the Ellensburg Farmers Market’s brand new market manager, said. “And it’s such a personal experience because it’s such a small community and they’re just right there selling to you.”
A 2021 graduate, Jacobs takes her experience at CWU to the realm of farm-fresh goods, likening her role as orientation planner to her current position, where she’s in charge of “event planning and working with all different types of people from all different backgrounds.”
“It’s kind of the same population as incoming students who want to be involved when they come to Central and want to learn new things and, you know, have a good time when they come here,” Jacobs said, comparing CWU’s bright-eyed newcomers to the farmers market environment.
Community outreach through avenues like social media is a talent that Jacobs hopes to bring to the table in her new position. “I really love for social media to be super interactive,” Jacobs said. “I worked on social media in the past for orientation, and I worked in the marketing department at Central for a little bit after I graduated. I really want to get vendors involved in the social media content that’s created. I’d also really love to do like more spotlights on each vendor and what they sell and where they’re from. And I think that’s been done in the past actually. But I just have kind of a different idea for the format of it and how I like to go about it. And of course, I love doing trends and stuff like that. So I’m pretty excited to have some of the vendors hop on.”
As a graphic designer and illustrator, Jacobs showcases her talents by giving some style to the market, as well as the local clients she does freelance work for.
The unique community in Ellensburg has also been hugely impactful on Jacobs, who cites the support of the farmer’s market board members and consistent vendors as indispensable. “The board members are so so knowledgeable and they’ve been around for quite a long time,” Jacobs said. “They know the ins and outs of the vendors and their personalities and what they kind of prefer when it comes to vendor placement.” The tight-knit community aspect of Ellenburg’s small-town market scene makes her feel right at home in this new position.
“A lot of them [members of the market community] are friends or family members and have known each other for a long time,” Jacobs said. “And then we have new vendors coming in who are closer, like my age, kind of trying to make a name for themselves and they are also pretty warmly welcomed in the community as well. So it’s a good mix, but we have a really great base community of vendors and farmers and stuff in town.”
A frequent customer herself, Jacobs has a long list of favorite goods she looks for on every visit.
“I love farmers,” Jacobs said. “Obviously, those are like, number one for me at a farmer’s market. I love produce. Produce that’s from someone’s garden or farm that’s in season [and] super ripe. Super good. That, you can basically use for anything. Making recipes off of that is one of my favorite things.” While Jacobs loves to cook, she vehemently insisted that she’s not a talented chef.
Jacobs highlights daikon radishes and big heirloom tomatoes as constant favorites. “I think it’s a really cool and unique experience to be able to pick that [her favorite produce] up from someone’s farm, and then take it to your home and then make something with it,” Jacobs said. “I also really love pastries and like bakery-style vendors. And I also love meat vendors because the meat that you can get around here in Ellensburg is pretty awesome.” Truthfully, her shopping list is expansive.
Come fall, Jacobs has her eye out for delicata squash, tiny yellow squashes with green stripes and edible rinds that she “roasts the crap out of,” she said. “I’ll put them in with pasta, or I’ll have it with meat or a carb and it’s just such a nice side and they’re so sweet. And you can either season them to be like salty and savory or like really sweet which I think is really cool.” (This writer’s dad makes a mean delicata squash pasta so this was a treat to hear)
Jacob’s status as a food fanatic has been inherited by her four cats, lovingly named Cornbread, Sardine, Mortadella (Morty for short) and Gumball respectively, which is something she insists on mentioning at every available opportunity.
