Newly-revamped Farmers Market opens with bang

Rick Kramer admits he and his fellow New Hampton Farmers Market Committee members had a few anxious moments Thursday.

"We knew we had the vendors in place, but you know, you don't know if there's going to be 5 or 500 customers," he said.
They need not have worried.

New Hampton's newly-revamped Farmers Market opened its 2012 season last Thursday night, and to say opening day went well, would be ... well ... an understatement of giant proportions.

"It so exceeded our expectations," Kramer said. "We were happy. The vendors were happy. We had a ton of people. We couldn't have asked for a better day."

The committee — which also includes City Clerk Suellen Kolbet, New Hampton Economic Development Director Tammy Robinson, Chickasaw County Tourism Director Mary Prouty and Economic Development Assistant Megan Gleason began meeting last fall and made substantial changes.

The market moved from Saturday morning to Thursday afternoons, and instead of holding the market on Chestnut Street, the committee members sought and received permission from CarQuest to use its store parking lot from 4 to 6 p.m.
"CarQuest has been very easy to work with," Kramer said, "and one of the things it gave us — and we saw the result of it Thursday — was great visibility."

Kramer said vendors reported heavy sales — "one woman sold something like 40 dozen kolaches in like 40 minutes" while another vendor sold a truckload of strawberries in the market's first hour.

Source: New Hampton Tribune, 6/12/12.
Tag: foodsystem