What’s new at the market is locally made fudge! Christina and Charles Norman of We Do Fudge are two of our newest market members.

Charles said they moved to Northern Oregon earlier to help Christina’s parents, who were ill. Christina is a professional organizer and found work in a local candy shop. The women who employed her asked her to help out in the shop during events and then she started to develop her skills with fudge.

After losing her parents, it came time for them to move on. They bought a motor home and drove around the country looking for a home. An old friend of Charles’ suggested Sequim. They figured they would not want to live in the rainy Northwest, until they found Sequim. He tells me, “We immediately fell in love with Sequim,” for the beauty of the land and the people.

They quickly noticed there was no candy shop in Sequim. After getting in touch with the women with whom Christina had worked, they had more than 200 recipes at their fingertips. That was about three months ago.

They decided that testing the fudge market at the Open Aire Market was the way to go. I can tell you, it has been a huge hit! When I asked about their future visions, Charles said they want to start a candy store in Sequim. They have come to know that there are some fantastic chocolatiers in town. So their vision is to collaborate and make a Sequim candy store that features the local expertise.

“What we like about the market is, we love talking to the people and creating those relationships,” said Charles. He says he has made purchases from a variety of vendors and appreciates the vendor community. Then he threw in that the Crave Cart has the “best hotdogs I have ever tasted!”

“It surprised me how the fudge is made,” said Charles. “I thought you just made chocolate, mixed it in a pan and threw in the oven.” To make this fudge he learned takes some special equipment. They have a special fudge kettle that makes 70 pounds of fudge at a time.

Currently they are releasing two new flavors: One is Espresso Mocha. “We created this one — since Seattle is famous for coffee, we wanted to come up with an espresso fudge,” Charles said. “We use Rainshadow Coffee espresso beans exclusively.” They also are right on time in coming out with their first batch of Lavender Fudge, using local culinary lavender, of course.

“The best thing about this is my wife and I have always had a dream of doing something together for our livelihood,” Charles added. “Our dream is to build something together and it is wonderful to work together.”

We have a packed lineup at the market in our Suzanne Arnold Community Booths on June 1, with the Greyhound Rescue, OlyCAP Senior Nutrition, the Sequim Dog Park, and the Sequim Rotary selling ducks for the Great Olympic Duck Derby.

The market’s free live music on June 1 will be by Sequimarimba and on June 8, Cat’s Meow Jazz Band plays. Don’t miss these fantastic musical ensembles from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

On June 8 the Community Booths will host the Master Gardeners and the Fuchsia Society will be coming to sell their fuchsia plants. This is a one time annual event — come early!