Description
Yes, you can find beautiful, locally grown produce at all the farmers markets around town. And you can find cheap produce at an array of bargain stands, like Beacon Hill's MacPherson's Fruit & Produce. But where can you find both at the same time? Bill Pace Fruit and Produce at Mercer Slough Blueberry Farm. As its location suggests, you can buy blueberries there; in fact, you can pick them yourself. The Pace family trucks in peaches, plums, cherries, and more every day both from its orchard in Yakima and from other farms around the state-charging as little as half of what farmers markets do. Manager Ray Pace says the business is able to charge reasonable prices by keeping overhead low, knowing which farmers offer the best deals, and having a permanent site with refrigeration. Hence the family doesn't have to throw away what it doesn't sell every day, as happens at markets-which farmers compensate for with higher prices. Unlike farmers markets, which typically occur just once a week at a given location, the Pace stand is open every day, April through October.
