Popular Ukrainian market in Fife to celebrate its anniversary with free festival

Emish Market, a Ukrainian-owned grocery store in Fife with an impressive in-house bakery and cafe, celebrates five years in business this weekend with a party in the parking lot with street food, live music, a local makers market and a kids zone.

The aptly named Emish Fest runs from 2-10 p.m. on Sunday, July 12. It’s free to enter and family-friendly, with about 20 stalls plus “prizes and surprises.”

Two special guests headline the day’s festivities: Ukrainian pop star Zlata Ognevich and R&B singer Kenny Lattimore. They will take the stage starting around 6 p.m.

From 2-6 p.m., many of the performers are set to honor their Ukrainian heritage, including saxophonist Andrew Chmut, DJ Enjie and MC Vasyl Chebanenko. Hrai More, a volunteer group formed by Ukrainian immigrants in Washington state in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, will also perform in traditional dress.

Food options will offer everything from Ukrainian dumplings to street corn, barbecue and shawarma, homemade and pre-packed ice cream, said manager Olena Ray. The store will operate normally during the event.

If, like me, you are already a massive fan of the Emish cafe and bakery, you’re familiar with the supple breads, rolls and other treats — layered honey cake and oreshki (walnut-shaped cookies filled with dulce de leche) among them. The pastry team, meanwhile, has attracted fans from hundreds of miles away to this corner of Fife for their viral trompe l’œil delights: the lifelike fruit desserts composed of a white-chocolate shell holding a creamy mousse and fresh compotes.

Emish Market opened in 2022, almost five years after the project’s initial announcement. Prior to its debut, Fife — a major stop-off for Interstate 5 freight travel and home to about 11,000 residents — had existed without a full-service grocery store for more than two decades.

In 2019, Anatoliy Zaika and Vladimir Gapon were tapped by the developer to build the concept. Zaika and his wife Maria Zaika had previously operated Kusher Bakery in Federal Way and then Fife after emigrating to the area from Ukraine in the mid-2000s. The Zaikas also own Paradise Village Hotel & Restaurant in Ashford, where, in addition to an idyllic series of cabins near the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park, you’ll find dishes of supple pierogies and house baked goods.

At Emish Market in Fife, the cafe serves coffee a-plenty and a robust all-day menu, from eggs and bacon to Ukrainian borscht, yogurt-laced salad to sweet and savory crepes, gyros to pierogies. An under-$4 cheburek, a flash-fried pocket stuffed with shredded chicken or potatoes and mushrooms, is a splendid and inexpensive snack. The space is often bustling with a diverse mix of families and construction workers.

Mere months after it opened in 2021, Russia invaded Ukraine, a confounding contemporary war that continues relentlessly to this day. Speaking to The News Tribune at the time, Ray and a colleague described their staff as diverse, speaking several languages including English, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and Spanish. Emish translates to a sense of exploration and curiosity, of seeking out the unexpected.

While the store has become a magnet for Ukrainian refugees and Eastern European immigrants, Ray said more than half of the market’s customers are Americans, “which we’re very happy about,” said Ray in a phone call this week.

“We’ve introduced Ukrainian cuisine to a lot of Americans,” she added, calling particular attention to the bakery and pastry case that now exclusively features goods created completely on site.

The store has also grown far beyond their expectations, she said. They employed 30-some people in the early days; now they have more than 120 people on staff.

“When we opened, we were thinking it was going to be a small store,” continued Ray. “We’d love to expand because we cannot fit all of our ideas in our building.”

Permits revealed this spring that Emish Market likely had eyes on opening restaurants in the former Shari’s Pies locations in Tacoma and Federal Way, The News Tribune reported in May.

Ray and her team anticipate around 5,000 people to attend Emish Fest.

The outdoor event will take place in the Dawn Foods parking lot directly next to Emish Market. Limited parking spots are available in the Emish lot directly outside the store entrance as well as at neighboring businesses on 70th Avenue East between 20th and 26th, including US Foods, HPM Building Supply and Western Container Corporation.

Emish Fest at Emish Market

• 2040 70th Ave. E, Fife, 253-262-6070, emishmarket.com
• What: 5th anniversary outdoor party at Ukrainian-owned market, bakery and cafe with food, music and kids zone
• When: July 12, 2-10 p.m.
• Where to park: signs will direct traffic to neighboring business lots, details at instagram.com/emishmarket