Photo courtesy of the New Albany Farmers Market
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When something is special, word gets around.
Since its debut in 2011, the New Albany Farmers Market has built a large audience of delighted patrons.
To its Market Square location flock local residents and members of the very workforce that swells the city to nearly twice its size during business hours. And for the uninitiated, the discovery by happenstance of the bustling square with wafting aromas and lively music surely leaves a great impression. Whatever ultimately pulls people in, chances are a return visit follows.
What keeps them coming back? An informal survey found a popular answer:
“I love meeting new people and seeing familiar faces,” says New Albany resident and market frequenter Kimberly Jones. “I love that I can purchase so many things that I can skip the grocery story run if I want.”
Eating local, supporting farmers, hanging with friends. It all keeps people coming back to the market. And not by chance; these reasons, among others, were central to the founding committee’s goals for the market.
Speaking to Kristina Jenny, dietitian and market committee co-chair, the magic behind what makes the market special is palpable. Jenny has an obvious grasp on the interconnectedness of the community. Give her a few minutes, and she’ll offer sample morsels of each merchant’s back story. The romantic vignettes she renders will leave the listener eager to walk the market to meet the merchants she so vividly describes, and experience their homegrown products. Jenny weaves easily through the market with her “funny little basket on wheels,” doing her shopping.
“I love it when people tell me their stories … the farmers, the honey people,” says Jenny. “Gosh, it’s so fun to talk to Joel about bees and his passion for it. Our jewelry maker, Valerie Long, is a schoolteacher who recycles old jewelry into wonderful pieces. Our soap maker, Betsy Roberts, hand-makes all of these soaps and lip balms. We’re saying goodbye to our friends when we shut down for the year; they really become family, and we want our community to rally around us.”
It quickly becomes clear that to her, the market is about community. It’s about people.
Photo courtesy of the New Albany Farmers Market
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And then there’s the word synonymous with farmers and farmers markets; healthy. Shopping markets like this one give the health-conscious a vital outlet. But to label the New Albany Farmers Market a place offering healthful fare would only be accurate by happenstance.
“We’ve never decided that we’re a healthy farmers market,” says Jenny. “We see the farmers market as helping to build a sense of community and setting up an avenue for health – whether that is in buying locally grown foods/goods, walking or cycling to the market, bringing a blanket and enjoying live music, or seeing friends and neighbors at the market.”
The game plan instead has been to pull in a wide array of merchants. And in this endeavor, the market has found success. The market partners with a variety of farms, including Wishwell, Doran’s, Legend Hills Orchard, Bird’s Haven and Branstool. Sprinkled into this array of farmers are a potpourri of merchants selling one-of-a-kind offerings like maple syrup, specialty ice cream, pies, flowers, meat, artisan bread, cookies, cinnamon rolls and even salsa.
The market’s five-person committee is very intentional about selecting the market’s products – careful to, for example, have only two jam merchants and one coffee person on site on a given market day Thursday. For one, space is limited. But the bigger reason is that it provides the best support for the merchants.
“We help our merchants make a living,” says Jenny. “Adding the farmers market as a place to buy daily foods helps our local economy, the environment and individual health.”
It says something about the vetting process and selections that past vendors have taken off from this market. Past popular chili vendor Gourmet Farm Girl is now sold at Kroger, and gluten-free baker Eban’s Bakehouse can now be found at the Easton Whole Foods location. Perhaps because they have gained a reputation for launching such success stories, vendor spaces fill up quickly. For the annual June opening, the committee starts recruiting the new season’s vendors in January. By mid- to late February, four months before the summer market opens, all of the spots are typically full.
Support for the market comes in all forms – a paid internship, a senior seminar program
Photo courtesy of the New Albany Farmers Market
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consisting of four or five students from New Albany High School, and even local business owners offer support, often in helping merchants set up in Market Square. It’s all part of the tapestry that makes up the perfect backdrop for the New Albany Farmers Market.
“As a dietitian, I always say, ‘Make sure your plate is colorful,’” says Jenny. “That’s really like the market; we have a nice mix. Health has as much to do with the variety of the food you choose for your plate as with the variety of experiences you enjoy at the farmers market.”
Debbie Rigaud is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at adeperro@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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