We welcome you to Celebrate the Sammamish Valley with us!
In 2013 four farms came together to create the Lavender and Arts Celebration, our first joint Sammamish Valley event. Since then, Sammamish Valley farmers and local business owners have come together to host the Sammamish Valley Celebrations, seasonal events created to share our beautiful valley with the community and our visitors.
Our Mission
Sammamish Valley Alliance (SVA) is a non-profit organization focusing on enriching the public’s knowledge regarding local, sustainable, small-farm agriculture in the Sammamish Valley.
Membership and involvement is open to individuals, families, local businesses and organizations dedicated to fostering a lifestyle celebrating the agricultural heritage of the Valley and connection to the land; encouraging stewardship of our resources; and taking action to ensure small farm agriculture has a place in the socio-economic fabric of the Sammamish Valley.
Support your local Farms, Businesses and Organizations
Scroll down for listing and links
Farms
Support your local Sammamish Valley farms.
(List not necessarily in alphabetical order.)
Businesses & Organizations
The following businesses and organizations continue to offer support of our agricultural valley.
The Team
Thomas Quigley is the President and one of four founding members of the Sammamish Valley Alliance (SVA) Board of Directors and works tirelessly in support of local farms and farmers. For over twenty-five years, Tom has played an integral role in preserving the Sammamish Valley for agricultural use. He is currently the manager of A Farm in the Sammamish Valley, LLC and prior to his retirement owned and operated Olympic Nursery, Inc. for over three decades. As an ISA-Certified Arborist, he is still known to many as our local “tree guy!” Tom also serves as President of the Sammamish Valley Grange; was Chairperson of the City of Woodinville Tree Board; and spent several years on the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He was a six-year member of the King County Agriculture Commission and sat on the Washington State Urban Forestry Council for three years having been appointed by then Governor Gary Locke. Tom’s input and knowledge of local agriculture, along with his extensive volunteer work in the community, will be long heralded for his impact on our local farmland initiatives.
Brenda Lee M. Vanderloop is the part-time Executive Director for Sammamish Valley Alliance (SVA), an organization dedicated to preserving and sustaining agriculture in the Valley. As a public relations consultant and owner of Vanderloop Communications, Brenda advocates for agricultural and educational causes in the community, supporting small farms and businesses throughout the broader Woodinville area and Pacific Northwest. In addition to her work with SVA and her public relations endeavors on behalf of various local clients, Brenda serves on the Executive Committee for the Sammamish Valley Grange; manages public relations and communications efforts for the 21 Acres Center for Local Food and Sustainable Living; and is a member of the Cascadia College Technical Advisory Committee for Web Applications. She also worked for several years on the Visit Woodinville Tourism initiative (under the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce umbrella) and served for many years as a Director on the Northshore Schools Foundation Board.
History
The Sammamish Valley was once forested acreage, home to logging and sawmills. The Valley eventually became lush with dairy farms and truck gardens cultivated by early immigrant, pioneer, family farmers from Italy, Japan and the Philippines. History of the Sammamish Valley, and the fight to preserve this protected farmland, has been well documented over the years. The Valley is currently home to one of the first-ever community supported agriculture (CSA) operations in the State of Washington, along with nurseries, equestrian businesses and a growing number of culturally diverse farmers who are tending the soil and growing crops for the community.
In efforts to protect the agricultural economy within the Sammamish Valley, King County created the Farmland Preservation Program, resulting in designating five Agricultural Production Districts (APD’s) of which the Sammamish Valley was the first priority. This APD is the smallest with approximately 1,000 acres located along the Sammamish River bordered by the Cities of Woodinville, Redmond and Kirkland, in unincorporated King County.
Further Reading
More information can be found at History Link on the critical Washington State Growth Management Act and its impact on the valley and surrounding rural areas.
Movements to develop this fertile farmland have been consistent throughout the years and current action and disputes continue today. For insight into this area visit Friends of Samammish Valley
Additional resources on the history of the Sammamish Valley can be found from the Woodinville Heritage Society
For information from the glacial period through development and growth click here for in-depth information from History Link.
History of the indigenous Sammamish people can be found here.
