HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-24-2013 (3)I
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Auburn International Farmers Market
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Friday, May 24, 2013
Auburn City Hall Annex Room #1 - 3:00 pm
Mission Statement. The mission of the AIFM is to provide a forum for the purchase of a
variety of healthy and locally grown products to area residents, a convenient marketplace for
local farmers and artisans, and a vibrant gathering place for the community to enjoy downtown
Auburn.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Trudy Ginther at 3:02 pm.
Advisory Board Members present: Trudy Ginther, Maggie Greenslit, Christian McLendon,
Ronnie Roberts, Linda Morris and Mark Wayne. Not in attendance. Trenity Walker
(unexcused). City Staff /Council present. Market Manager Joanne Macnab, City Council
member Bill Peloza and Parks Secretary Julie Mehl. Citizen present: Thomas Sauers.
II. Minutes
Ronnie Roberts moves to approve April minutes, Maggie Greenslit seconds.
III. Market Manager Report— Joanne Macnab
We currently have 35 registered vendors.
18 — Farmers
1 — Prepared Foods
2 — Processed Foods
14 — Craft
Opening day activities are complete and have been confirmed. We are receiving 200
shopping bags as a sponsorship from Auburn Wine and Caviar through Auburn Tourism.
These bags will be handed out opening day.
Marketing: Our posters have been distributed throughout Auburn. Using grant marketing
dollars, we had 100 posters distributed throughout Auburn by the company that distributes
posters for other City sponsored events. Our bookmarks are in. We have 10,000. A
bookmark was included in each dog trot goodie bag given at Petpalooza, (there were 100
goodie bags) and approximately 200 more were handed out at the information booth.
Christian McLendon is featuring our bookmarks at each table in Oddfella's Restaurant and
he has generously offered to distribute the 2,500 coasters to restaurants throughout
Auburn. The first postcard mailer is scheduled to go out the first week of June.
We will have the banner ad on the front page of the Auburn Reporter for the entire season
and we have an ad in the NW Coffee News that began the first week of May and will
continue until the end of the season.
Councilmember Peloza was contacted by a gentleman who works with two HOA's on Lea
Hill. I contacted him and he is including information on the market in the next newsletter for
both HOA's.
The seven fence line banners are up, and I put in a facilities request to have the 38X6 foot
banner put up on the south side of the transit center parking garage. We have a banner on
the south side of the Auburn Way rail bridge that will remain until June 17th. On June 3rd
the two sided banner will be up over Main Street also remaining until June 17th.
There is only one volunteer meeting remaining and it is scheduled for May 301h at the
Auburn Station Plaza storage room. This will let the volunteers preview the new storage
facilities before opening day.
We had a successful Clean Sweep event at the Plaza on Saturday, May 4th. We pulled
weeds and picked up garbage. We also noticed that the roses needed pruning and they
were infested with aphids. As of last week, the roses have been pruned, the infestation
appears to be under control and the entire plaza has been pressure washed. I have tested
each electrical station and our two water sources and everything is working properly.
There was a meeting with the City of Auburn facilities — Lisa Moore, Sound Transit
representative — Nancy Bennett, Councilmember - Bill Peloza and myself on May 2nd
regarding maintenance and improvements Sound Transit plans to make at the Auburn
Plaza this summer.
They plan to replace the concrete in the bus lane and paint the clock tower and pedestrian
overpass. They will let us know, with as much notice as possible, when this will happen.
Currently, these improvements are still in the planning stage.
We took this opportunity to discuss the restroom situation with Sound Transit and it has
been confirmed that the restrooms will be cleaned and locked Saturday evening at 8:OOpm
and opened by security Sunday mornings.
There are 26 Auburn High School students participating in the poster program. Yesterday,
each student received a Certificate of Appreciation and a market t -shirt. Volunteer Len
Elliott and I will be proofing the art entries to take some of the burden off of Mrs. Sarr and
our Multimedia Department.
Beginning May 281h, American Farmland Trust (AFT) is unveiling a new campaign to:
1. Help family farmers by urging consumers to shop at farmers markets
2. Inform the public about AFT's work to keep family farmers on the land.
This new campaign is called: I Love My Farmers Market Celebration
This moves away from a contest and towards a celebration of family farmers. Rather than
casting a vote, enthusiasts will be pledging to shop at their farmers market. One pledge =
A commitment to spend $10 at your farmers market. Participants can pledge once a day to
as many farmers markets as they support. Once the celebration gets rolling, an up -to -the
minute, 100 most celebrated farmers markets will be showcased from the home page of
the I Love My Farmers Market website. When the celebration ends, the top 100 markets
will receive a special seal that you can put on your outreach materials in the coming years.
The celebration will end on September 9, 2013 at midnight EST.
There are 9 Advisory Board members and volunteers signed up to tour the Shadow Lake
Nature Preserve tomorrow at 200pm_
There are 16 days until the opening of the fifth season of the AIFM, therefore, this is the
last Advisory Board meeting for the 2013 season. The next meeting will be October 25th
for a season review.
IV. Council report — Bill Peloza
Dow Constantine's office contacted Bill to let him know that Dow will not be able to attend
opening day at the market.
Bill has been handing out AIFM book marks throughout town. Bill attended a neighborhood
meeting at Green River Community College and handed out 100 book marks.
Bill is not able to attend the volunteer meeting on the 30th, he will be in Olympia. Everyone
Bill talks to around the community is excited about opening day of the market.
Bill reminds the board we are looking for a bread vendor.
V. Correspondence /Public Input
Joanne reports that Boeing is holding a Wellness & Safety Fair on Friday, July 19 from 4:00
am — 600 am and 10:00 am — 5:00 pm and their theme is "Farmer's Markets ". Three
thousand people are expected to attend. The event is free for vendors and we have been
invited to set up a booth. Bill Peloza suggests we attend and offers to participate in this
great opportunity. Joanne will send out a sign up sheet for folks to volunteer.
VI. Old Business
Maggie asks about Joanne's compensation, Joanne shares that she has received a raise.
Trudy has not been able to get in touch with Auburn Multicare regarding a sponsorship.
Joanne has received a donation from Coastal Farm & Ranch for $250.00.
Christian offers to buy bags for one market Sunday, price ranges from $2 to $4 each.
Ronnie offers to kick in $300. Joanne shares the pricing she has found for bags with one
color logos would cost $1,200 for 500. Christian is still waiting to hear from Emerald Downs
on whether they will be interested in participating in any kind of sponsorship / donation. Bill
asks if we are happy with the bags. Joanne feels they are too expensive, Bill will ask Waste
Management to sponsor a bag purchase.
Christian would like to sponsor a week, (Senior Day) with Ronnie but feels that $1,200 is
very expensive. He would like to find bags at $1.00 or $1.50 each. Ronnie is ok with
sharing a bag sponsorship with other retailers so perhaps we can order a larger quantity for
better pricing. Bill suggests $600 - $1200 and Waste Management can use one entire side
for their logo. Joanne will get pricing for 1200 bags. Christian suggests handing out bags
on Senior Appreciation Day which would buy us some time. Joanne would like to buy the
bags locally.
Christian says the bushes still have not been trimmed in the parking lot, Joanne was told
they were going to be trimmed on the 151h or 19'h. Bill will find out when they will be
trimmed.
Linda Morris is working on getting a document for the gift certificate for the Lake Tapps Pet
Sitting for Doggie Days,
Ronnie Roberts suggests looking at different dates and different locations for the 2014
season.
VII. New Business
Christian states the Legislature has approved beer and wine tasting for next year at the
earliest, depending on the rules set by the Washington State Liquor Control Board. At least
one craft brewery could attend each week, Trudy adds that wine vendors could participate
as well.
Ronnie will take market posters to stores at the Auburn Supermall (The Outlet Collection)
and Gosanko's downtown location.
Bill shares that he will showcase the market May 30`h at Green River Community College as
the Kent Farmer's Coalition is having a round table meeting. Bill will provide the connection
between the community and the market during his ten minute presentation.
VII. Board Recommendations /Input
Bill asks if we have received a yes or no reply from all board members on whether they
would attend. Trudy shares we have not heard from Tren so he needs to be marked as
unexcused. Joanne shares that he has only attended one meeting.
Bill asks the board to consider whether we should remove Algona and Pacific from
participating for next year. This would need to be brought to a board action vote, then
brought to the Mayor. Christian suggests asking for $2000 per year in lieu of an active
board member as they have not participated in meetings. If they don't / can't, then we can
remove. Ronnie Roberts motions we give the cities of Algona and Pacific the opportunity to
participate in the 2014 season with a $2000 per year cost as well as a representative, to be
presented by Mayor Lewis. Christian McLendon seconds. Bill Peloza offers to put together
a proposal for the Mayor.
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Ronnie Roberts would still like to consider changing the location and times of the market for
upcoming seasons.
Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:49 pm.
Approved this Day of 201