Opening Day for Market 2013

Rabbit Fields Farm veggies

The first Saturday in April marks the beginning of the Farmers' Market in Bellingham, held every Saturday until the last one before Christmas. We see the wares vary with the seasons, and today I saw the annual "Tossing of the Cabbage." The tradition has been for the mayor of the town to throw a cabbage to a child, and if it is caught successfully, it portends a very good season. So the pressure was on for all involved.

Mayor Linville with the cabbage

Last year we had a little parade, since it marked twenty years of the Farmers' Market at this location, with a large rather impressive cabbage presented on a velvet pillow. This year, Linville said this is the largest LOCAL cabbage ever grown by this time of the year. And here is the person selected to receive the cabbage.

I didn't find out her name, but I learned her parents have a booth at the market. You can see all the photographers getting ready for the big event. But Linville didn't want to take any chances, so she stood only a short distance away from the girl, tossing it gently up into the air. I wasn't successful in showing it in mid-flight, but here you can see the successful catch!

I suspect that I will be in quite a few pictures of the toss, as I can see plenty of cameras pointed in my direction. Maybe one of them was more successful at capturing the cabbage in mid-flight, but I was pleased nevertheless. And then the bell rang, opening the market for the season. Although it isn't a very nice day, it wasn't raining at that moment, the wind cooperated for awhile, the toss was successful, so everyone was happy.

Does anything say spring better than pussy willows?

I wandered around the market for a short while, although I was beginning to get a little cold, since I had just finished a brisk six-mile walk with the Fairhaven walkers. The organizer, Cindy, started the walk from this location today, so that we could be back in time to shop, and for me to get pictures of the toss. I got this picture of my fisherman friend Gene with his parrot Poopstain, or Poopers for short.

He didn't really want me to take this picture, because Poopers is beginning to get really old (somewhere around 23 or 24) and doesn't have any new feathers growing in. We speculate that the bird had a stroke about a year ago, when the squawking stopped and it started spending most of its time on his shoulder hiding out under the beard. For years he thought the bird was male, but then it laid an egg. Gene still calls it a "he," while his girlfriend calls it a "she."

Now I am home and getting ready to fix myself a nice lunch. It was a good morning, and I'm warm and cozy, with my camera all primed for the season, too! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
:-)