Sequim Farmers Market
Open: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays through October
Location: Sequim Civic Center Plaza
Contacts: www.sequimmarket.com; manager@sequimmarket.com; 460-2668
What’s new at the market is a huge grand opening celebration this Saturday, May 20!
We have a dance band called Joy in Mudville coming to play for us from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The Chamber of Commerce will be doing a ribbon cutting to celebrate our relocation at noon! We will have medieval battles spontaneously ensuing! There will be raffle winners drawn and demonstrations taking place throughout the day!
We sincerely hope you will come and take in this momentous occasion for downtown Sequim. It is going to be fantastic!
For hot eats we have a fabulous new vendor called Tribung Pinoy. Tribung means “tribe” and Pinoy is an informal demonym referring to a Filipino person. So come eat with our Filipino tribe! Emy and Rocky Del Rosario along with partners Erwin and Kate Gabot have quickly become notorious for their delicious food.
Erwin is the lead chef. He grew up in Manila and realized his love for cooking as a young adult. He loved baking everything he tells me, cakes, pies, cookies, muffins, etc. He earned a degree in pastry and culinary arts from De La Salle University in Manila. From there he went on to be a catering chef before landing a job working for Norwegian Cruise lines where he was the sous chef cooking for 3,000-4,000 people, three meals a day.
Upon coming to the Olympic Peninsula he began working for The Lodge on Lake Crescent as a sous chef, while dreaming of opening his own restaurant.
I asked Erwin what typical Filipino food consists of and he chuckled and said, “The Philippines was colonized by the Malay, Spanish, Asians and Americans, so the food is a mix of all of these.”
What he can say about his food, it is fresh and it is a “show kitchen” — you can see him cooking it up. They make all their own sauces as well, sweet and hot or sour and hot, but not too hot.
They have kept the menu simple with these three items, lumpia — a thin egg roll stuffed with either vegetables or beef, pancit — a cornstarch noodle tossed with divinely chopped and lightly sauteed vegetables and marinated barbecued pork or chicken on a stick. They plan to bring special dishes in the near future, starting with a traditional fresh, sweet treat called halo-halo.
One evening while the two couples were spending time with friends, including current vendor Emily Tolberd of Emily’s Flowers, the idea began to form. Erwin had a vision to kick off his dream by making food at the market and Emy was excited to be part of the team. They both hail from the Philippines and have come to live in Sequim in the past few years.
Their spouses, Rocky and Kate, are both physical therapists at the same clinic in Sequim and were happy to be on task at the market on Saturdays. This motivated team quickly figured out all the logistics, permits and equipment and were ready to go.
Emy tells me they were out in the front yard setting up the booth, rearranging everything, trying to make choices about how it would be set up. They did multiple attempts, timing themselves to see be sure they could get it done in time. You can imagine this is a big undertaking.
On the first day at the market, they had lines and happy customers aplenty. We couldn’t be more excited to have them realizing this dream at the Sequim Farmers Market.
You can look around Sequim and see what a business incubator the market is. This is where Jose’s Famous Salsa, Rainshadow Coffee, The Bag Ladies of Sequim WA, WeDo Fudge and the Cajun Kitchen all began their now storefront businesses.
Come eat, dance and relax at the market this Saturday!
