Arts & Entertainment Business Community
Vendor Blender food festival coming to Gig Harbor Eagles club
Think of it as a Taste of Gig Harbor festival, but with prepackaged, local, artisan food items and some food accessories.
The Gig Harbor Eagles club will host the first Vendor Blender — an indoor market filled with sauces, spices and other premade foods as well as live entertainment — from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 21. A couple food trucks will serve lunch and dinner outside in the parking lot of the club building at 4425 Burnham Dr. It’s free to attend.
“I had this idea coming off of the November craft bazaar,” said organizer Rebecca Small. “I thought, what if we could do an indoor event like the holiday bazaar?”
The Gig Harbor Eagles club will host the first Vendor Blender food fair from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 21 at the club facility on Burnham Drive.
She decided March would be a good month for it since farmers markets haven’t yet started. As a vendor herself, Small knows the importance of sales opportunities for small businesses. While this indoor market won’t offer fresh vegetables and crafts, vendors use fresh, local produce to make their prepackaged foods such as sauces, spices, pickled goods. Vendors also will sell cutting boards, aprons, cup warmers, and pottery.
“I’ve never put a show together,” she said. “Right now I have 26 vendors. It’s kind of different, because it’s like an indoor farmers market.”
Small and her husband, Jason, are members of the Eagles. She is the kitchen manager.
By having the market indoors, she said, shoppers can enjoy the day no matter the weather.
“I have some local farmers coming,” she said. “Rose Orchard Farms, and also Kaukiki Farm, she sells beef and lamb. I feel like I’ve got a good group of people coming.”
Local high school students will provide musical entertainment. Food trucks will offer pizza, tacos, burgers, and cheesecake outside in the parking lot.
Proceeds support the Eagles’ Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to students at Peninsula and Gig Harbor high schools.
“Hopefully we are able to give a substantial amount of money to the scholarship fund for the schools,” she said.