Wednesday afternoon marks the debut of midweek food and art fare.

No more need to ration out your favorite salad mix to make it last until Saturday.

Now you can stop in at the midweek Bainbridge Island Farmers Market, which has its inaugural run from 4-7 p.m. Wednesday at the plaza by City Hall.

“Consumers have been asking for it,” market manager Susan Vanderwey said. “Some people also have trouble getting there on Saturday” because of kids’ sports activities.

After feeding your stomach, you might feed your soul up the tree-lined path, entering from behind City Hall, which leads to the back yard of Oil & Water Art Supply on Madison Avenue.

There, artists will exhibit their work at the Artists Market.

The farmers and artists markets will run every Wednesday, 4-7 p.m., from June 22 through Sept. 15, coinciding with peak harvest season.

“When something’s ripe, it needs to be picked,” Vanderwey said, “so a midweek market helps the farmers in their harvest. There will be less waste and spoilage.”

Although the idea of a midweek market had been kicked around for a couple of years, Vanderwey found an appropriate spot hard to come by.

“But then the Mayor (Darlene Kordonowy) came though and said, ‘It needs to be here (City Hall plaza),” Vanderwey said.

And with an adjusting of hours to start at 4 p.m., when most city employees leave, the market was set to start. Initially about 10-12 booths are expected at the Wednesday market.

The idea for an artists market came separately from the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council-sponsored Artists’ Roundtable, but has joined forces as an extension to the midweek market.

Co-sponsored by BIAHC, the artists market is to be “a place for emerging artists, or those not represented by a gallery, to show off their work,” Oil and Water co-owner Richard Nelson said.

He volunteered the grassy back yard behind his store because, being an artist himself, he knows how hard it can be for an artist to find places to exhibit work.

The space will be offered to artists for free on a first-come basis, much in the same vein as festival seating at a concert.

Last Thursday, it was still too early to know what artists will come, but Nelson said there will be live music, and students from the Art Center are planning to show their work.

“We want to make this a happening thing,” Nelson said.

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Here, they mix

Artists interested in joining the Wednesday artists market can call Oil and Water Art Supply at 842-0477. Space will be available on a first-come basis.