The Philomath Farmers’ Market will return for its fifth year beginning this weekend for a 22-week run that’ll take shoppers into mid-October. Situated in the parking lot in front of Philomath Community Library on Applegate Street and operating from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays, the event has established a solid sense of permanence.
“Last year, I can’t tell you how many people came up to me and said ‘please tell me you’re coming back next year .. please tell me this is not going away,’” Philomath Farmers’ Market Manager Janel Lajoie said Wednesday. “There are people who say, ‘I can’t get to town .. I wouldn’t know what to do if you weren’t here on Sundays.’ There is still in our community, in our neighborhoods, a lot of food scarcity even if we don’t see it all the time.”
Philomath Farmers’ Market to see youth movement this summer
In less than a month, the Philomath Farmers’ Market will return for a fifth summer. Over a stretch of 22 weeks from May 26 to Oct. 20, the community can enjoy fresh produce and other items offered by a variety of vendors. This year’s event will feature a new program that focuses on the importance…
The market accepts SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), the state’s food benefits program for eligible, low-income individuals and families. Also accepted again will be Double Up Food Bucks, which match SNAP purchases up to $20 each week for fresh produce and food products.
Filling the need for those restocking refrigerator drawers and countertop produce baskets obviously holds importance in some of those Sunday shoppers. However, many locals frequent the market to see neighbors and friends.
“To a lot of members of the community it’s a social gathering,” Lajoie said about the market, which will run until Oct. 13. “It’s a nice place that is inclusive and accepting and has places to sit and talk … it’s just a nice Sunday meeting place.”
The farmers’ market fits in well with Philomath’s past as an agricultural community. A handful of larger farms exist but many are smaller operations that enjoy selling the results of their labor on a local level.
“You can meet who grew your carrots or meet who grew your cherries or whatever,” Lajoie said. “That’s a really nice thing about our market — most of our foods are owner operated, whether it’s textiles or meat or produce. Usually the people showing up at our market selling the product have been hands-on and made the product in some way.”
In other words, it fits right in with the small-town feel that many Philomath residents cherish.
“It just feels right for Philomath to me,” Lajoie said. “It’s nice to know the people that are behind the products.”
Taking a look at the registered vendors, Lajoie sees familiar names returning but also several newcomers.
“We have over 20 vendors at every market lined up for the season,” Lajoie said. “(It’s) just more consistent and we have so many new vendors … and we have all of our tried-and-true vendors that are coming back with us this year.”
A check of a participating vendors list shows 39 in all — some of those on site during certain weeks only.
“We’ll see how they pan out after Monday but right now, it looks like the good, steady growth that we’ve had since Year 1 — not growing too big for our britches, not too quickly, but nice and steadily, fill that parking lot up with booths and people … and have some fun every Sunday.”
As the event’s name implies, farmers represent the main attraction with many folks visiting such venues to purchase their fresh vegetables for the week.
“The one thing that people are always asking for is more produce,” Lajoie said. “We do have quite a few more farmers signed up this year” with potentially at least three on site each week.
“We’ll get some more produce, which just makes it better for the SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks programs and makes it better for the POP (Power of Produce) kids club program,” Lajoie said. “It also makes it better for pizza because it’ll give us ingredients that we can buy at the market to put on pizza and really bring the community together in that way.”
Lajoie and Brian Mayfield operate Mud Oven Wood Fire Pizza, a nonprofit that bakes and serves at the market each Sunday and is typically seen at various other venues over the summer.
“The nice thing about our market is people don’t have to sign up every week,” Lajoie said in reference to vendors. “It’s really easy to do every other week or every third week. There is research that shows if you’re consistent and show up at every market or every other market that you will have exponentially better sales.”
An operational upgrade occurred thanks to a grant from the Oregon Farmers Market Association that allowed the organization to get their hands on new market management software.
This year’s market will be the longest ever at 22 weeks — a move intended to include fall harvest products such as brassicas and melons.
“You kind of miss that fall harvest feeling if you end too early,” Lajoie said, “but also we’re pushing up on half of the year so you have to keep that in mind with people and their stamina and how many weeks they want to do out of the year.”
Various organizations have committed to operating booths, including the city of Philomath, 211info, Benton County CERT, Philomath Community Services, Good Samaritan, Oregon State Athletics, OSU Extension Service and the POP Club.
Maxtivitiy, the local arts and crafts nonprofit, will have a presence again this year on selected weekends. Lajoie said those events have an art fair type of feel to them. There will also often be musicians on site to entertain.
As for the location, organizers since the inaugural year have tried to find ways to capture traffic heading west on Main Street in the couplet’s opposite direction. With the city’s streetscapes project closer to reality, there could conceivably be more foot traffic and more visibility in the future. But, if a can’t lose location becomes available, a future move cannot be ruled out.
“We are keeping our eyes peeled for somewhere that maybe has a little room to grow a little bit,” Lajoie said, mentioning that one advantage to the current location involves the availability of restrooms and parking. “It would be nice to have visibility from both Applegate and Main.”