Buoyed by increasing consumer interest in fresh local foods, farmers markets are sprouting across Washington state, doubling from 60 in 1998 to 120 in operation today, according to state and local agricultural officials.

Statewide, farmers markets reported $38 million in sales in 2006, up more than 50 percent from 2005. Most of the dollars go directly to Washington family farmers. "Farmers markets play a key role in rural and urban locations and are increasing in popularity every day," says Kira Doley, treasurer of the Washington State Farmers Market Association and manager of the Tacoma Farmers Market.

The state Department of Agriculture says one of its goals is to increase farmer and consumer awareness of the value of farmers markets. The agency says it has provided grants to assist 20 different farmers market projects and that it helps small farm operators comply with state and local regulations and policies as they market their products.

Fred Berman, small farm and direct marketing program coordinator for the Department of Agriculture, says farmers markets "provide family farmers with direct access to the full retail dollar for their products" and enable the public to buy some of the freshest-tasting produce in the state.

Farmers markets vary in size, according to the association, from large shelters harboring 50 to 75 vendors in the heart of cities and suburban areas, to modest rural roadside stands where farmers sell directly from their nearby farms or out of their pickups in a parking lot.

And consumers say state and local agricultural officials have the same kind of expectations for each kind of farmers market: that the markets are set up by growers selling produce they raised on their own local farm, that the produce sold is fresh, and that all the crafts sold are handmade by the vendor.