Downtown Puyallup’s Sunset Market to Brighten Wednesday Evenings This Summer

Who does all their grocery shopping on Saturdays?

That’s the question that inspired farmers market organizers at the Puyallup Main Street Association (PMSA) to launch a Sunset Market on Wednesday evenings downtown, starting May 29, with market times from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“The point of it all is to buy fresh and local, so having a midweek market allows [attendees] to do just that, in a real way,” said Shawn Edwards, farmers market coordinator for PMSA. “It’ll have a different feel than our Saturday market and we hope people will make an evening out of it. Families can walk around, grab a bite to eat, do their shopping and sit on the lawn and enjoy some music.”

Edwards said the Sunset Market will not be as large as the Saturday market, with a cap of 60 vendor booths available. The focus will be on food and fresh produce, with less crafters.

The Sunset Market will also be completely outside, not in Pioneer Park Pavilion.

Not to fear, the market’s time frame—end of May through August—captures the best summer evenings of the year.

“Plus, we have diehard people who will come out rain or shine,” he added.

This year’s Sunset Market is a pilot program for PMSA, but the downtown group has high hopes that the community will make it a yearly tradition.

“Anyone who lives down here knows that the downtown corridor is very busy with the train service and commuters at this time of day. We're hoping to capture their interest while they make their way home,” said Edwards. “It’ll be a bit of a different crowd, but we do hope regulars will continue to come.”

You can "like" the PMSA Sunset Market on Facebook and catch the fun downtown on Wednesdays beginning May 29 through Aug. 28 this summer.