NORTH BEND – An old Chinese proverb says: “When you only have two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a flower with the other.”

This year’s North Bend Farmers Market will be bursting with flowers of every kind. During the months of July and August, shoppers will have two opportunities each week to purchase the stemmed “pick-me-ups” among many other freshly grown items. The market will be open Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in addition to the usual 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday hours.

Though imbued with the fragrance of bouquets, many other delights will be on hand this year as the city of North Bend and the Mount Si Senior Center team up for their sixth market. This year it will be located on a stretch of grass between the Senior Center, 411 Main Ave. S., and Bendigo Way.

“We have wonderful flowers, we have so many growers. We have people come every week just to have fresh flowers in their house,” said Ruth Tolmasoff, director of the Mount Si Senior Center.

The Saturday market will run from June 11 to Oct. 1, and the Thursday market will run July 7 through Aug. 25. The extra day gives more area farmers the opportunity to sell their wares in North Bend, as many head to other farmers markets come Saturday.

“There isn’t a Thursday market in the area. We’re hoping to attract more farmers Thursday evenings,” Tolmasoff said.

The market will kick off June 11 with a pancake breakfast in the morning and entertainment throughout the day. Each market day will include activities such as chalk sidewalk art, music, belly dancing, produce tastings, kids activities and skits.

Glass artists, jewelry makers and purveyors of lotions and other such delights will descend upon the market this year. As always, there will be rows and rows of organic vegetables and fruits. Master gardeners will be on hand Thursdays and Saturdays to help answer gardening questions.

“It’s a more intimate way to buy your food,” said Tolmasoff, who noted a lot of people like to actually talk to the farmers that grow the food they eat. “Also, we get things you often don’t find in the store, such as exotic varieties of tomatoes.”

All the farmers market produce is freshly picked on the same day of the market – a difference you can taste – according to Mount Si Senior Center Board of Directors member, Pam Whittington.

“It’s just a lot fresher and a carrot just tastes like a carrot,” Whittington said. “I don’t know how to explain it. Store bought carrots just don’t taste as good as those just pulled right out of the ground.”

The market welcomes backyard growers and other amateur gardeners to bring their surplus bounty to sell at the market at a rent-free community table. However, 10 percent of all sales go to the senior center to help fund programming, which will help out greatly considering that “funding is being cut from every direction,” Tolmasoff said. “We have to get creative.”

This is the first year Mount Si Senior Center is seeking sponsorship for market signage. Already a handful of sponsors have stepped up, including SubTerra, Meadowbrook Urgent Care, Jubilee Farm and The Nursery At Mount Si, but the farmers market will need more in order to pay for signage and advertising costs.

The North Bend Farmers Market is also looking for volunteers to help out each market day by putting up signs and counting shoppers. For information, call Ruth Tolmasoff at (425) 888-3434 or e-mail: nbfarmersmarket@yahoo.com.