Today and for many Saturdays to come, local consumers will gather at the Federal Way Farmers Market to buy farm fresh produce while enjoying family, friends and neighbors.

This weekly community event is held 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday through Oct. 31 on The Commons mall parking lot at 320th Street near Sears.

The trend to seek locally grown produce has a name: The locavore movement.

Locavores, a word coined in 2005, are concerned with how far food travels before it gets to their plate. They enjoy locally-grown ingredients and take advantage of the seasonally available food items that can be bought and prepared without the need for extra preservatives.

Before the word locavore entered the scene, the first Federal Way Farmers Market opened in 2004 with 20 vendors. Today, more than 60 vendors sell produce, freshly made baked goods, food, plants, flowers and handmade items. Breakfast, lunch and snack items are also available. Among the vendors at last Saturday’s market were Twisted S Ranch eggs; Happy Mountain Farm free range, grass-fed beef; Bella Napoli Ristorante pasta; and Los Agaves tacos and tamales. A live jazz band provided entertainment.

Among those attending the first farmers market of the season last Saturday were loyal customers Faye Clerget, Bob Wroblewski and Janice Siebenaler.

Clerget, a longtime Federal Way resident and community leader, enjoys the taste of fresh produce, and she has discovered some healthy diet alternatives while shopping at the farmers market. Plus, she likes to support farmers by buying their produce, she said.

Wroblewski, another longtime Federal Way resident and community leader, finds the farmers market an opportunity to connect to the people who grow the produce he buys. Over the years he has gotten to know some of the vendors. “We talk about our families,” Wroblewski said.

Siebenaler, the local Evergreen Bank manager, likes the market’s warm, friendly, welcoming atmosphere. “It’s a great place to bring your kids,” she said.

Note: The word “locavore” was coined by four women in San Francisco who proposed that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius. Locavore was the New Oxford American Dictionary 2007 Word of the Year.