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market-farming - Re: peddlers, politics & convenience

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Subject: Market Farming

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: S & S Aqua Farm <snsaquasys AT townsqr.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: peddlers, politics & convenience
  • Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 07:35:15 -0600


At 07:09 AM 02/14/2001 -0600, Del wrote:

>We never had a market with all 25 vendors present. One farm paid the fee
>and never showed up for the entire season.
>
>The problem I was describing is one where some farms opt to sell at the
>usual summer festivals like the Pumpkin Festival, Gladiola Festival, every
>little town homecoming (these occur all summer), etc. The produce vendors
>consist of small families (maybe just one person) farming for market sales.
>So some of these folks decided to bail on the downtown Saturday market to do
>sales at these festivals. This left us with a smaller downtown market.
>Some people who did this on a regular basis or only showed up once a month
>at our market didn't get a new application.
>
>It isn't that they aren't making money downtown. They just think (and maybe
>so) that they can sell more at the festivals. I actually argued to raise
>the fees to stop this. If they can afford to pay for a space they aren't
>using, then the fee is too low.

Del - we also have a limited amount of space in our building, but we don't
limit the number of memberships. The "under cover" space is first-come,
first-served, with priority given based on seniority (years of continuous
membership) of the farm. We do put up a shade cloth area for the summer,
though, so those who aren't under roof or find a space in the shade of the
trees are at least not fully exposed to the hot sun in mid summer. In the
peak of the growing season we have many more vendors than even that space
can hold, but for the early and late season, our vendor numbers are much
smaller.

Only a percentage of our growers are full-season....even those who opt to
pay extra for the reserved building space. Our blueberry grower comes to
mind here. In order NOT to have empty space inside, though, the market
manager has a time limit for regular vendors to show -- if their space is
not filled by that time, he/she has the option of giving the space to
someone who would otherwise be outside, or allowing the booth next to it to
overflow. Empty spaces are a visual negative for customers, I think.

What was the reason for the limited number of memberships at your market? I
don't remember reading it.

Paula
S&S Aqua Farm, 8386 County Road 8820, West Plains, MO 65775 417-256-5124
Web page http://www.townsqr.com/snsaqua/





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