Scale House Market: Spokane’s First Year-Round Farmers’ Market

Bringing local food, artisans, and community together

By Taylor Shillam

Coming soon and located in the heart of Spokane County, the Scale House Market sets out to offer “one building for our community,” an innovative agricultural hub and home to the area’s first year-round farmers’ market. 

“The Spokane Conservation District has partnered with female- and veteran-owned business, Four Roots, to form The Scale House Market, Spokane’s first year-round, permanent farmers’ market,” says Vicki Carter, director at Spokane Conservation District. 

Set to open this spring, the Scale House Market market is expected to draw nearly 250,000 people a year. Designed to host indoor-outdoor vendors, the facility will be equipped with a commercial kitchen, food truck incubator, and more. It will host classes and events and operate all year long, instead of the traditional spring-to-fall farmers market model, Vicki shares. 

Located less than five minutes from the freeway at 4422 E. 8th Avenue, “the new site will feature a blend of seasonal open-air markets, an indoor mercantile year-round and community events,” Vicki says. “Community members can take classes on cooking, food preservation, and how to avoid food waste. Vendors will offer related products such as seeds and flowers.” 

Vicki says the market will offer shelf-stable items and dry goods available year-round, such as beans and herbs, spices, pasta, and breads. “We will also feature a local creamery, local meat products, and of course fresh produce!” 

With Scale House Market offering an indoor marketplace setting and access to ample onsite services, vendors will be able to showcase their products throughout the year. The facility will be home to a commercial kitchen, along with refrigerator and freezer space that will allow producers to hold longer seasons. 

The fully-equipped commercial learning kitchen will be available to vendors and available to rent for food preparation, cooking and packaging, and more. The Scale House Market suggests vendors can use the commercial kitchen to prepare food to be sold at the market, host educational classes, lead demonstrations, or test new recipes, providing ample opportunity for market guests to learn, sample, and share culinary and nutritional experiences as a community. 

“There will be a lot of nutrition education classes, demonstrations,  and classes related to food production, preparation, and preservation – really bringing back some skills that have been lost, and increasing people’s ability to use the nutritious food they find at the market,” Vicki says. 

Fueled by a mission to foster a more vibrant local food system, provide a valuable local resource for the community, and provide a strong platform for highlighting local businesses and farmers, the innovative concept behind the Scale House Market is set to make a profound impact on the way the community connects, learns together, supports local entrepreneurs, and savors local food. 

After receiving public and private funds, its capital campaign is within $1 million of its goal. With the support of the community and its sponsors, “our dream becomes reality in Spring 2025,” the Scale House Market says. 

The Scale House Market is expected to open its doors in mid-to-late May 2025; more details can be found at TheScaleHouseMarket.com.