Next year, Vashon can look forward to major changes at Mukai Farm & Garden — changes that will add to the vibrancy of our island life.

We’ve come a long way. Thanks to years of hard work by Friends of Mukai and the support of our community, Mukai, on the National Register of Historic Places, is almost fully restored. We now own the Fruit Barreling Plant parcel, which King County gifted to us in September. We steadfastly bring many popular events to the island, including our Japan Festival, Haiku Festival and Studio Ghibli Fest, all of which have built cultural bridges across all ages and ethnicities. Thousands visit Mukai annually.

And there’s more to come, with your ongoing help and support.

We are currently laser-focused on restoring and transforming our historic Fruit Barreling Plant into a significant community asset by January 2026, one that honors its original purpose as an entrepreneurial agricultural enterprise.

Partnering with the Vashon Island Growers Association (VIGA), the barreling plant will operate as a local food hub with a certified community commercial kitchen, cold and dry storage opportunities, and a centralized aggregation and distribution space of locally grown food.

Enhancing Vashon farmers, growers, and producers’ ability to create value added products, it will reduce food waste and make more local food available to all of us.

The 6,800 square foot barreling plant originally housed the Mukai strawberry processing business, shipping Vashon strawberries across the country. Even Smucker’s jam, headquartered in Chicago, contained island grown strawberries. While in operation, the barreling plant provided between 300-500 jobs.

Plans to bring the old plant back to life to again support Vashon’s rural economy are well underway. Here’s an update:

Restoration design and plan: Our ace architectural team, Hoshide Wanzer, led by architect Rachael Kitagawa, has involved a cohort of engineers to assist with civil, structural and mechanical drawings and design. The team is working to finalize a design development set, now at 64 pages, that will be submitted to King County for permitting by year-end.

Restoration timeline: Permitting may take months, so we’re now planning for construction to begin in August of next year. Early next year, we will search for and engage a contractor who will provide us with refined cost estimates and begin to plan the actual construction components.

Restoration funding: For the past two years, we’ve been busy fundraising. The current cost estimate for the restoration is over $3,000,000. We have a viable path toward meeting that goal that includes funding from the National Park Service (thanks to Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal); a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities; and funding from 4Culture, several local foundations, community members, and the state.

A state Heritage Capital Project grant of $870,000 is set to be approved in the upcoming legislative session, and our proposal, one of 41, was the top ranked project in the entire state! We are so grateful for all this incredible financial support.

Barreling plant occupancy: In addition to VIGA’s community kitchen space, the barreling plant will house other food-related businesses and also include spaces for historic exhibits, performances and community meetings and workshops. Incoming tenants include:

• Fernhorn Bakery, known to many for their delicious bread and baked goods. This local bakery plans to ramp up production and their tenant space will include a window for take-out coffee and their baked goods.

• Fuku Ferments, a start-up business, which plans to make soy, miso and other koji related fermented foods.

• Vashon Refill, which makes and sells refillable household cleaning and personal care products that make use of island ingredients and minimize waste and plastic packaging.

One space remains open to a food-related tenant. If you know anyone interested, send them our way.

All of this restoration and our ongoing public programming takes money. We need your financial support to maintain our momentum. Our year-end fundraising campaign is underway with a goal of $35,000. Please make a generous donation.

Many are concerned about upcoming changes at the federal level of government and what it may mean for nonprofits. Support for our local community resources has never been more important.

To donate to our year-end campaign, go to our website at mukaifarmandgarden.org or reach out to us.

All our events are open to the public, free of charge. Mukai is a community treasure that belongs to all of us; together we can shepherd it to an even brighter future.

Lynn Greiner is Mukai’s barreling plant construction committee chair. Rita Brogan is the co-president of the Friends of Mukai. Both are board members of the Friends of Mukai.