“Wielding a very large stick and struggling to keep her blindfold from slipping down around her nose, Hannah Mack, age 2, helped by Laura Stone, takes her best shots at a brightly colored pinata during opening day of the South Whidbey Tilth Farmers Market May 5.Joan Soltys/staff photoIt has been months since anyone on South Whidbey could remember that tomatoes actually grow on a plant before they arrive at the supermarket.Last Saturday, Jim Cowperthwaite jogged at least a few memories at his produce booth at the Bayview Farmers Market. In a merchant’s booth stocked with lettuce, carrots, rhubarb, and other spring garden favorites, Cowperthwaite and his business partner, Pam Mitchell, were selling small tomato plants to people who want their own harvest at home. It was opening day at the Bayview market, so both live plants and vegetables were in demand by shoppers looking for food grown in island soil and harvested within the past 24 hours.For Cowperthwaite, it was the perfect way to start his second season at the market.It’s been a nice, steady day, Cowperthwaite said.The Bayview opening was the second opening day for a South Whidbey farmers market in two weeks in the area. The Saturday before, the South Whidbey Tilth Market dodged the rain of the night before to open in sunshine for a large crowd that packed the market’s parking lot with cars.The fiesta-like atmosphere celebrated Cinco de Mayo with candy-filled pinatas, fragrant Mexican foods and Latin rhythms from the musicians of SisterMonk Harem. Shopper Jean MacLeod had just acquired a bunch of salad greens and a fresh-baked loaf of bread and stopped to listen to the music.They’re very good, she said. I love this music.Nearby, kids were congregating at the booth of Llama Lland, where two young llamas were inspecting the people inspecting them. At the Community Produce Table, market-goers could buy the surplus products of some of their neighbors. Elaine Steinhoff had brought strawberry and chive plants, and Michael Seraphinoff was selling pea shoots from plants grown on the adjacent Tilth property.Molly’s Garden was briskly selling produce. Jody Crane’s lupines sold out in the first hour, and even the Fetch booth was doing a good business in dog bandanas. Pamela Flynn of French Frog Farm purveyed dahlia tubers and also gave planting advice. Other vendors sold pottery, popcorn, and handcrafted soaps and toiletries.Probably the youngest sellers at the market were Annie Wescott, 10, and Laurel Johnson, 11, who said they did pretty well with their Sudsy Budsy Island Soap.Joyce LaGow, market manager, was beaming at the crowd and the weather. It’s wonderful, she said. We got so much help from so many people. Everything went very well.Back at Bayview, shoppers wandered the market not only with produce, but with sticky buns in their hands and music in their ears. SisterMonk Harem were at Bayview this time, playing their brand of jazzy, bluesy funk nearby as Alison and Jeannette Lightfoot did a good business in pastries. Alison Lightfoot noted that at 10 a.m., there are plenty of people at the market shopping for both breakfast and dinner at the same time.We’ve been doing pretty well, she said.Market manager Jude Biegert said all but two of the market’s 57 vendor spaces were rented for opening day. She said the farmer’s market and the craft market in the nearby Bayview Hall drew and kept a good crowd milling about most of the morning. She said market-goers will be able to spend even more time there after July 4 because the Bayview Farmers Market will be open 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays in addition to its usual 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. hours.It’s dinner at the market, she said.Joan Soltys contributed to this story. “