Eat Local Month: Celebrating the Food We Find Close to Home

September has been proclaimed Eat Local Month in Washington, recognizing the farmers, fishers, food producers, and food artisans who provide fresh, healthy, and sustainably produced food to communities across the state. The 2026 proclamation also recognizes the longstanding role of Tribal fisheries, which continue to provide nourishment, support local economies, and preserve cultural traditions.

In Mason County, eating local is something residents and visitors can experience throughout the community. The Shelton Farmers Market runs every Saturday from 10:00a-3:00p, May through October, offering an opportunity to shop directly from local growers and producers. The county is also home to other markets, farm stands, and local food producers, giving people more ways to find food grown, raised, harvested, or produced close to home.

Part of what makes buying local food meaningful is knowing where it came from and having a connection to the people who produced it.

There is something different about buying a product from someone who can tell you where it was grown, raised, harvested, or made. Eat Local Month provides an opportunity to make those connections and to pay a little more attention to the people behind the food we bring home.

That connection matters to the local economy, too. Mason County’s food community includes growers, farmers, shellfish producers, fishers, restaurants, markets, farm stands, and other small businesses.

Supporting those businesses means supporting the people working in our community and recognizing the many different businesses that play a part in getting food from the farm or water to the table.

For the Chamber, Eat Local Month is also a reminder that supporting local businesses does not always have to be complicated. Choosing a locally produced item at the farmers market, buying from a farm stand, picking up local seafood, or choosing a locally owned restaurant are all ways to support businesses in our community.

Washington’s proclamation recognizes that supporting local agriculture, fisheries, and food production can help strengthen the economy, support food security, preserve farmland and fishing waters, and reduce environmental impacts. But at the community level, it can also be about something much simpler: knowing the people and places behind the food we eat.

This September, take a closer look at what is available close to home. Visit the Shelton Farmers Market on a Saturday, stop at a local farm stand, seek out local seafood, or ask a food business about the products and ingredients they use. Eat Local Month is a chance to celebrate the people who grow, raise, harvest, and make our food, while choosing to support the local businesses that help keep those connections close to home.

Find a list of local food & beverage in the directory.