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  • From: dave.kathy AT att.net (Dave & Katharine Campbell)
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] making football season an asset to farmers' marke t
  • Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 22:17:48 +0000

Hi, Carla!
Yeah, all that happens to us, too.  Our Iowa City Farmer's Market is probably a little farther than yours from the football stadium, maybe ~ 1 mile, but things are still hectic on football Saturdays.  For one thing, all the streets get clogged with vehicles and revelers, and football busses preempt parts of our parking lots.  Just getting in to ICFM with our truck can be a problem on those mornings.  Regular Saturdays, we try to be there 6:30 a.m. for the 7:30 a.m. opening whistle, but on football days we come at least a half-hour earlier.  That's to cope with slowdowns and detours due to traffic, and to out-of-towners who may have parked in our vendor's stalls. (The city tows them away to clear our spaces, but it can take time.)  ICFM goes till 11:30 a.m., about when the games start, so there are few sales during that last half-hour.  Old customers know to come around early, and on bicycles. Actua lly, tho, I don't see much sales let-down on those days.  Old timers at the ICFM remark that sales are best early each month, after paydays, but slow down near the end of the month, when paychecks are running low.  That effect is more noticeable than football games.  The absolutely worst sales days are when we sponser "Taste of Iowa", where local chefs come around and cook up free food for all comers using produce we supply.  After everyone eats the free stuff, they're full, and don't buy very much.  We just chalk it up to advertisement, and good will.  I'd advise you do the same with your Homecoming lows--as long as it brings people back to later markets, you probably are ahead, overall.  Definitely DO NOT disappear just because there happens to be a game in town!
==Dave & Katharine Campbell

-------------- Original message from "cjmaness AT juno.com" <cjmaness AT juno.com>: --------------

Our market is in Stillwater, Oklahoma. We have a population a little closer to 50,000, which doubles or triples during home football games. Game days don't affect us too much. Our market is located very close to the football stadium (within walking distance) but most of our customers will come very early on game days to avoid the rush. Most home games start at either 1:00 pm, or 6:00 pm. The 6:00 games don't affect us at all. The earlier ones do slightly. We have fans parking in our lot and the customers can't. We also have the tailgaters setting up in our area as well. The market closes at 1:00, so there is a little overlap of fans and market people, but not too much. Sales may drop slightly, but it isn't much. We do get a lot of new people walking through and looking. That part is an asset. They might not buy anything that day, but they remember us, and we have had some of them come back another Saturday.

The one market day that a home game ruins is homecoming. OSU has a big homecoming parade, right on main street which is the entrance to our market. Main street is closed down, the entrance to our market is blocked and for several hours we just sit there and watch the parade. There is a back entrance to the market, but the traffic there makes it impossible to get in, or out. We just anticipate it will be a slow day, and live with it. Our market closes the last Saturday in October and the homecoming games is a week or two before that date. Some of our die hard customers will get out early, before the parade to do their shopping and a few will brave the traffic, but for the most part that is our slowest market day of the season.

We've contemplated moving the market for that one day, but how do you let all your customers know? The worse thing that could happen is to have the regulars show up, and no one is there. They would think we had closed the market a few weeks early or something. We've also considered moving the market to a different location entirely. But, we have the perfect spot right now. We're sort of on the main drag of Stillwater. Very close to the university, and all the restaurants and shopping. We have electricity, water, restrooms.

I too, would be interested in hearing from others in college towns, and how game days affect their outcome.

Carla

--- Begin Message ---
  • From: "cjmaness AT juno.com" <cjmaness AT juno.com>
  • To: castens AT peoplepc.com, market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] making football season an asset to farmers' marke t
  • Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 18:37:37 +0000
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