Back in 2020 when the Philomath Farmers’ Market launched as a 10-week pilot program to see if the community would support such an endeavor, Janel Lajoie and Brian Mayfield of Pioneer Gardens were among the vendors.
Bountiful Backyard, a nonprofit, had organized the launch of the market and by the following year, had secured donations and grants to hire Lajoie as the market manager. Over the past few years, the venture has reached new heights with more vendors, more shoppers and more weeks. Lajoie approached the position with a passion, secured additional grant funding and introduced new programs.
Lajoie can share stories from the group of dedicated volunteers that contribute to the effort year after year and to the market’s vendors who choose Philomath as their preferred selling location.
“A lot of vendors love this market and the feeling of it,” Lajoie said. “I mean, we have a couple of vendors who are like, ‘I just come here and I do my craft and it’s my Zen time.’ People just dig the vibe of this market and I don’t know why but we hear that over and over again.”
One seller even comes down from Portland every week because of the Philomath vibe.
Said Lajoie, “I think that the shoppers and the vendors feel a closer connection to the community because it’s smaller.”
Time has passed quickly and that 10-week experiment is now fading into the past. This Sunday, the Philomath Farmers’ Market will begin its sixth year outside of Philomath Community Library and for the second straight year will feature 22 weeks. The market will run from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays.
“When we started in 2020, we had five consistent vendors … and they’re all still with us,” Lajoie said. “Part of the beautiful way that we’re growing is because we’ve had the Oregon Farmers Market Association growth grant the last few years that allows us to invest a little bit more into the market.”
As of Tuesday morning, Lajoie said more than 50 vendors had signed up for the season but added, “They’re not all coming every week, of course, but we’re going to be pretty full.”
The market has 35 vendor spaces available.
“We do still have some space available for some weeks so if people still want to apply, they can, but we are nearing capacity,” Lajoie said, adding that the market is always on the lookout for more produce vendors.
This year’s lineup features familiar sellers but also a number of newcomers. Lajoie said she’s been pleased to hear that the market has become a positive space for everyone.
“It’s a welcoming space, an inclusive space,” she said. “It’s also a space where a budding entrepreneur, someone who has an idea, can bring it and we’re a welcoming supportive space where they can try out a business and grow a business.”
She also had kind words for the volunteers who help week after week — some, year after year.
“That’s what makes it for us,” she said. “We can’t make it without volunteers.”
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.
“Last year at our market, shoppers in our community spent over $10,000 in those currencies in SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks,” Lajoie said. “That’s a huge impact on our community, our town, our farmers, our vendors, our shoppers.”
Like many other farmers markets, Lajoie has the fear that SNAP may go away as part of the federal government’s reorganization.
“If that goes away, that will affect the market substantially and that will affect our community because we have so many folks here who qualify for SNAP,” she said.
Those who have gone to the farmers’ market in the past will likely notice a different look with how vendors are set up. The market received a city of Philomath grant to improve its “community space.”
As such, the vendor setup was reconfigured to move them away from Applegate Street. Lajoie said some folks made the suggestion with some kids running around too close to a road that can get busy on summer weekends. This year, the market will take advantage of a paved, curved driveway that is situated between the police station and the library.
The POP (Power of Produce) Club for kids returns this year, a program that originated with a Linn Benton Lincoln Health Equity Alliance grant. In the program, kids can taste different items each week and receive tokens that can be spent elsewhere at the market — an educational strategy that teaches financial literacy. Various games and activities are also part of the program designed to fill the reading gap that surfaces for some youth over the summer.
“We keep them thinking, keep them reading and keep them eating good food,” Lajoie said. “We had over 200 kids last year in the POP Club.”
Lajoie mentioned that the POP Club could use a few more volunteers to help on market days. For anyone interested, reach out to her via email.
Lajoie has spent a great deal of time trying to secure grants for the farmers’ market. Beyond ones mentioned, she’s hoping for a climate change resiliency grant that was made available through the Oregon Farmers Market Association.
“Wind and heat definitely impact our vendors and our shoppers so I’m hoping that we get that grant this year and we can use it to mitigate some of the impacts,” she said.
As for the future of the Philomath Farmers’ Market’s location, Lajoie has big ambitions.
“The big dream is that piece of property at the end of town,” she said, referring to the sizable, wooded area situated east of the “Y” between Philomath Family Medicine and Dollar General. “To somehow get that and have a permanent structure and get access from both sides — that is what we’re lacking now.”