What was once a 50-acre rock quarry in Spokane Valley decades ago and more recently an asphalt plant has gained a new life as a permanent, year-round farmers market called The Scale House Market.
During the market's grand opening on May 31, gone were the trucks weighing their asphalt loads at the long "scale house" building. Instead, the 165-foot-long renovated structure was bustling with vendors and farmers marketgoers filling their baskets with local produce and goods.
The Scale House Market's indoor space — dubbed the "Mercantile" — features original concrete walls from its former use as a weigh station, but its industrial foundations have been dramatically revamped. Ribbed sheetmetal siding covers the outside, where the words "Scale House Market" greet visitors in bold red signage. Native plants flourish out front in small ecology ponds, from which frog songs emanate in chorus.
"[The Scale House] building got left here as one of the remnants, and we had the opportunity to have it torn down, but I always say as good conservationists we find a second purpose with everything," says Vicki Carter, director of the Spokane Conservation District, which oversaw the project and is now based at the site.
While most farmers markets are seasonal and require vendors to set up and take down their stalls each day, the Mercantile has space for 35 vendors, a commercial and demonstration kitchen, and dry and refrigerated storage.
"[The Mercantile provides] that permanency and that stability for both you, the consumer, and for the farmer," says Carter, explaining how vendors can sell their goods in the indoor space via publicly accessible fridges even if they're not working on site that day.
Inside, the long walkway where vendors set up shop is enlivened by 11 murals by Michael Che Romero, who grew up in Spokane. Some pay homage to Romero's grandfather who farmed in Idaho and others to local Indigenous food and culture.
Meanwhile, an outdoor market space was built as an extension of the Mercantile, connected by an atrium with large glass roll-up doors, which features space for 20 more vendors and a stage in the light wooden "cubbies" shielded from the weather.
Outside, to the right of the building, visitors can find tables to eat fresh finds, a solar "flower" structure to charge phones and food trucks for more dining options. Currently, Surge Coffee and Madfire Kitchen & Catering are in rotation as food trucks.
The Scale House has been long in the making. When Carter first drove past a "For Sale" sign at 4422 E. Eighth Ave. in 2016, she saw beyond the messy environmental scars of blasted rockfaces and asphalt piles. Instead, she envisioned a new home for the Spokane Conservation District as well as a place that could be re-natured and repurposed for the community.
Conservation districts like it were first established following the 1930s Dust Bowl era with the purpose of promoting sustainable use of natural resources, primarily with one-on-one assistance and education for landowners. The Spokane Conservation District formed in 1941, and in the decades since expanded its efforts to be more public facing with bigger projects like the farmers market.
"Unfortunately, I think we've been kept as what I call America's best-kept secret for too long," she says. "And one of my goals in taking over as director was to help change that at least regionally and in Washington state."
Once a front desk employee, Carter rose to the rank of director after working in various roles during her 35 years with the district. Its headquarters had been located at the fairgrounds for decades before Spokane County took back use of the building.
"One day I decided to stop by, and I drove in here and I just went, 'Oh my gosh, what is this place?'" Carter says of the 50-acre site that, besides the market and conservation district's office, also includes the Washington State Small Business Development Center.
When Spokane Conservation District bought the property in 2017, it didn't have a clear plan for how to use the long concrete structure, yet the former weigh station was earmarked as a potential business incubator. During the pandemic, resulting food insecurity issues sparked the idea for a more permanent farmers market.
"So we set forth on doing a feasibility study in 2022 to try to prove that out or find out, 'Is this the right thing for Spokane?' And it really came back with a resounding 'Yes,'" Carter says.
The $4.4 million project for the market was carried out through a public-private partnership between the conservation district, the Upper Columbia Resource Conservation and Development Council, Vets on the Farm, and Four Roots, a local food resiliency business which also oversees the market under the direction of its CEO, Brittany Tyler.
The project received widespread public and private support, including $1 million in funding allocated by the Washington Legislature in 2023 and large sponsorships from BECU, STCU and Avista, to name a few.
Carter enlisted Spokane architect Chris Olson and Halme Cascade construction company for the project, noting how Olson was excited about the "quirkiness" of the original scale house structure.
Before its debut last month, the Scale House Market received over 237 vendor applications vying for 65 total slots to sell produce, protein, dairy, baked goods, mead, spirits, tea, juice and much more.
"That doesn't mean we can only have 65 vendors, because not every person is going to be here on every day," Carter explains.
There are vendors who sell typical farmers market fare, but all must offer something related to food, like a craftsman who repurposes local wood into charcuterie boards, for example. While some sellers are hyper local, others are more regional and located within a 100-mile radius. Carter notes how there is also a focus on including minority and first-time vendors.
The high number of applications is also attributed to the business support and benefits that vendors receive. Next door to the Scale House, the Washington Small Business Development Center pairs each vendor and small farmer with a certified business adviser.
In addition to having space to store their products, vendors can reserve the commercial kitchen for cooking and food preparation. If there's a product a vendor wasn't able to sell and that will go bad before the next market day, they can also use the kitchen to extend its viability. For example, turning strawberries into smoothies, fruit leather or jam.
The market operates on a single point-of-sale system, allowing vendors to keep a detailed record of sales and build their bookkeeping system. It's also cashless, but customers can visit the help desk to load a market payment card using cash.
To make healthy eating more accessible, the market also accepts EBT/SNAP cards and is piloting a Snap Produce Rewards program where EBT/SNAP participants are reimbursed up to $50 a month when they buy produce from a participating vendor. Eligible shoppers can visit an information booth or main register to set up their EBT/SNAP card for market purchases.
In an era when food systems seem more fragile than ever, with prices for staples like eggs soaring and other products becoming harder to find, connecting to local supply chains is ever important.
"Food resiliency is about not being dependent on our food coming from so far away," Carter says.
Winter or summer, rain or shine, The Scale House Market is an agricultural hub where people can not only reliably find ingredients for dinner, but also support local businesses in the process.
The Scale House Market • 4422 E. Eighth Ave.,Spokane Valley • thescalehousemarket.com
Mercantile (indoors): Sun from 11 am-4 pm; Wed-Thu from 11 am-7 pm; Fri from 11 am-8 pm and Sat from 8 am-2 pm
Outdoor Market: Wed from 3-7 pm; Fri from 3-8 pm, Sat from 8 am-2 pm
