The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Hoping to shake off its rocky past, the Dayton Farmers Market opens this Saturday with more vendors, a longer sea­son and more marketing sup­port than ever before, orga­nizers said earlier this week.

"I'm super optimistic," chamber director and board member Brad McMasters said. "Everybody seems ready and positive."

Organizers and vendors are so geared up this year, they're starting the seasonal outdoor market early to take advantage of crowds expect­ed to come to town for the Dayton Days parade, he said.

Like last year, the market will set up at and around the Depot from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday well into October, depending on the weather.

Some twenty vendors have signed up for the first weekend at the court yard in front of the historic train depot off Main Street. Last year, attendance ranged from only three to seven vendors, McMasters said.

Bigger numbers and more variety are expected to make the Saturday morning gather­ing more of an attraction to Daytonites and other shop­pers from the valley.

" It's a double- edged sword," McMasters said. "You need the vendors to attract attendees and you need attendees to attract the vendors."

The Dayton Farmers Mar­ket hopes to take advantage of the turmoil in Walla Walla, where the farmers market has split into two sections with half the vendors downtown and others at the fairgrounds. Dayton had a similar split two years ago, when dueling organizations recruited their own sets of vendors and lined opposite sides of First Street.

The split in Dayton spread resources and community support thin. The variety was limited and the crowds small.

But this year, the market will offer produce from local growers, food crafts, baked goods, fine arts, crafts, live music and espresso drinks. Weinhard Café pastry chef Mandi Wendt will participate with her creations. The coffee drinks will be provided on behalf of Coppei Coffee in Waitsburg.

Painter Judy Robertus will sell her pieces and Waits­burg's Izzy the Camel will be there for pictures and a good- natured nuzzle. Jazz pianist Tammy Wappler will appear as the first of four musical acts scheduled for the season so far, McMasters said.

The Dayton Farmers Mar­ket has applied for a permit to offer wine tastings and may start doing so later this summer, with the possible participation of local winer­ies Mace Mead Works and Dumas Station, he said.

Meanwhile, the chamber and the Port of Columbia will share in the cost of marketing.

McMasters said the mar­ket will benefit from a series of business training seminars the chamber organized ear­lier this year. The bulk of the participants were from local value-added food producers, McMasters said.

"We're on a new trajec­tory," he said.

Although vendors aren't obligated to sign up for the entire season, the cost of participation in the Saturday- morning market is affordable at four dollars per stall. The organization, led by Zonia Dedloff as chair, is still look­ing for more vendors and buskers to join the group.