With a population of around 600, Kooskia doesn’t have very many community-based events and groups within itself. One of the community events that attract people from throughout the region is the Kooskia summer Farmers’ Market, where anyone can come see what the farmers, quilters, painters, and more have to offer.
Organizer Melissa Knapton runs both the local market and her own successful microgreen business.
“It’s brought the community together,” Knapton commented. Knapton and her family, husband Brandon, and daughters Madelynn, 23, and Emma, 19, lived in Middleton, Idaho, before moving to Kooskia in 2015 after Brandon was hired to work with the Forest Service. Madelynn works for the Forest Service, as well, and Emma is a student at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland and will graduate in 2025.
Knapton had gardened for other people and was a personal trainer, working for Freedom Fitness, a gym in Kamiah, for four years before it closed down. She now hosts a weightlifting Zoom class every Monday and Wednesday at 8 a.m. The class is $35 a month.
“I have anywhere from two to seven people in a class; I send them the link, and they hop on. I do the workout as well,” Knapton said.
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