By LEAH WEATHERSBY

(Editor's note: the Lake City Farmer's Market story that appeared in the printed version of the June, 2002 issue was cut due to space. What follows is the complete text.)

Aaron Barnett plans to make a lot fewer trips to the University District this summer. That's because the Lake City resident soon will no longer need to drive several miles south to buy farm-fresh produce at the weekly University District Farmer's Market.

On Thursday, June 20, the Lake City Farmers Market will make its debut. From that date through Oct. 17, the market will be open every Thursday, from 3-7 p.m. on a site behind the Lake City Fire Station at NE 127th Street and 30th Avenue NE.

"I just know that people (in Lake City) can't wait for this," said Barnett, one of the market's original organizers. He adds that at every community meeting about the market he has heard people comment that they can't wait for it to open.

Thirty-four vendors have signed on to participate in the Lake City Farmers Market, which is part of the citywide Neighborhood Farmer's Market Alliance. The alliance also operates weekly farmers markets in the University District, Columbia City and West Seattle. (There is also a farmer's market in Ballard, which is operated by a separate group.)

The Lake City Farmers Market will offer an array of produce, cheeses, non-edible plants, baked goods and meats.

Molly Burke, outreach coordinator for the Lake City Farmers Market, said the Lake City location will be the alliance's only farmers market to offer beef for sale (by Sky Valley Farms). The Lake City Farmers Market will also regularly feature cooking demonstrations, live music and other special activities.

The opening day of the Lake City Farmers Market will include speeches by several public officials, including Mayor Greg Nickels, City Councilmembers Jan Drago and Richard Conlin, County Councilmembers Cynthia Sullivan and Carolyn Edmonds and Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Director Yvonne Sanchez.

The opening day program will be led by Greater Lake City Chamber of Commerce President Imogene Inglet. Lake City Neighborhood Service Center Coordinator Yolanda Martinez will also address the crowd , introducing Sanchez in Spanish. The program will be interpreted in sign language for the hearing-impaired.

On top of all that, there will be musical performances by students from Olympic Hills Elementary School and local blues musician Brian Butler.

Creating a Lake City Farmer's Market was one of the goals of the Lake City Neighborhood Plan, the urban planning document drafted by Lake City area residents and merchants in the mid-'90s, which was eventually officially adopted by the City Council.

Barnett and his wife, Tanya, along with Ken and Barb Miller of Vashon Island (members of the Seattle Mennonite Church in Lake City), got the ball rolling to launch the Lake City Farmers Market over two years ago.

The two couples initially looked at holding the weekly farmers market in the parking lot behind the church, before settling on the site next to the fire station.

The Barnetts and Millers eventually enlisted help from the Neighborhood Farmer's Market Alliance, a non-profit organization that runs the day-to-day operations of local farmers markets. Inglet and Lake City Chamber board member Dick Harris also agreed to join the Lake City Farmers Market steering committee.

"Imogene really deserves kudos," said Aaron Barnett. "Just having the Chamber's support was major."

Also credited A.J. Skurdal, a former co-chair of the Lake City Planning Effort, as the person who came up with the idea of locating the farmers market behind the fire station. The Planning Effort was the citizens group that wrote the Lake City Neighborhood Plan. For more information, call the Neighborhood Farmer's Market Alliance at 632-5234.