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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Mid week markets

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  • From: Lucy Goodman <goodows AT infinet.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Mid week markets
  • Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 07:06:55 -0500

My best market is a mid week (Tuesday) market. It probably gets about
30% of the customers as the Saturday market in that town (but I am not
sure as I am barred from that market due to not living in the School
District where it is held). But than this market is about 1/10th the
size (3 to 5 vendors vs 20 to 30 vendors). I do know we get a different
crowd from the Sat Morning market because we are in a more central
location (in the middle of a small College town CBD) and we have evening
hours which means we get a lot more college people than the Saturday
market in this town and I have asked my customers and it seems about 1/2
don't bother to go to the Sat Market (too early, not enough selection)
or do not know about it at all

We hold it from 4pm to 7pm from April thru October. We did hold it
during lunch (11am to 2pm) for one year and I think between 6 of us
growers we would make about $15 per week. It was sad but lead to some
wonderful bonding on our parts and my husband and I made wonderful
friends from that rough year. When we changed to a later time folks
could come up to the market after work and get things for dinner or the
week. The lunch time hours brought in people who wanted ready to eat
items which no one offered.

As I said this market is much smaller than the Saturday market and gets
almost no venders from that market. Most of our growers are like
us-outside the school district but want to sell goods in this town. The
first 2 or 3 years were really rough because we could not get folks to
change their custom of going to market on Saturday. What keep the market
going early on was the fact our farm had a CSA and we did delivery at
the market for a season and that got our CSA'ers up there and buying a
few things from other growers/venders and the fact that students do not
get up early (before 2pm) on Saturday to go to a farmer's market but
will go to one during the week in the evening.

Be sure to do advertising of this market and get stories about it in the
local paper numerous times during it's first season (and perhaps a
couple of stories before it even opens. PSA's on the local NPR station
and fliers help too.
>

--

Lucy Goodman-Owsley
Boulder Belt Organics
New Paris, OH
http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/boulderbeltcsa

Looking for a CSA, Farmer's market or other venue for fresh local food?
Check out
http://www.localharvest.com

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong

Voltaire (1694-1778)




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