By now you should have (1) a name to identify your market, (2) vendors that are willing to participate and a (3) time and day picked out along with (4) a good location if your lucky. Next we need to bring in the customers by letting them know (a few months ahead of time, until you open and after) about the new market and where it will be.

Write up special public notices about the new market and see if the local paper and others will publish it for free as you get your location and decide on the hours.

Here is an example:

SPECIAL NOTICE

The newly formed Sunrise Farmers Market has finalized plans for its outdoor location. We will be setting up in the area beside the Blue Hill Restaurant where the old miniature golf course was. We plan to offer (vendor produce here)

Customers will be able to park in the parking area to the left right beside the market area. We plan to open June 4th and our hours and days will be every Tuesday, rain or shine from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM. For more information on joining our market please call (or other questions) H. Chase in Gilmanton (his phone no.) or B. Butterfield in Pittsfield (my phone number)

2. Advertise in a local weekly paper. It is usually less expensive and will not get tossed as often as a daily one.

3. About a month before opening day you will need to put up posters in the local stores, camp grounds, restaurants and other public notice places. Our local hardware store was a great spot and they let us put it right on the front door as people walk in.

4. Have permanent signs put up where your market will be with the information so people will notice the new site better.

GET THE OK FROM YOUR TOWN WHEN YOU HAVE A LOCATION PICKED OUT

Depending on your area it may be required to meet with your police chief on parking safety and planning board on any permissions needed for your market. Some cities have health inspectors that will need to be notified. Your town needs to know what your plans are. Plan to meet with whoever is in charge and let them know about your market plans.

Ask town officials if they feel the area is a safe place to have a market so they know what is going on. You do not want people having to cross a busy highway or road to have to get to your market. Many of your customers will be older people and mothers with young children

Remember to ask about your banners and signs and see if there will be any problems keeping them up. The town will need to know if signs are permanent or temporary, seasonal or just up during market hours.

Your state, town or heath inspector may ask what types of foods you are planning to offer such as baked goods, jams or jellies and may require your vendors who sell processed foods and the like, a state inspected kitchen. This is something you should know before you open your market.

                                                                           

Make sure you have the approvals you need before the notice goes in the paper. It is very wise to keep everyone happy that way. As long as people are well informed, it is a start to a successful market. Town administrators and workers can also help you get the word out about the new market, by telling local residents about it when they do business at the town offices.

Almost every market in the USA will need to determine what it will charge for fees to help with costs of advertising, posters, mailings and other costs that can arise. If you can get a sponsor or two to cover you right from the start this may be helpful. BUT….They may want a large say in the decisions of your new farmers market so you may loose some control of your plans there.

Our market was started with a sponsor for our market site which was donated for free. They were willing to cover the area insurance costs and I guess it was included with their policy, on the rare case someone tripped over a pumpkin and fell or other such case of injury and wanted to blame the market.

Most farmers markets will ask for a seasonal fee paid before they open and a daily set up fee which is collected every time you come to set up at your farmers market.

We decide to forget daily set up fee...who wanted to collect the money and be responsible for it? (We were all volunteers, not paid administrators)

Since our site did not require our market to pay rent for our location, we decided and voted that all market vendors pay $15.00 the first year we opened. This was to pay for mostly advertising and sign costs. This was kept as a cash account for many years.

We have only increased our fees since then to $20.00 per season for vendors and have not ever charged any daily set up fees for paid market members.

Our fees go into a checking account and we became an “official”non profit corporation. This had to be formed, mainly to register our name in with the state. Now checks are written out to “Sunrise Farmers Market” when we pay our dues. This extra expense and time was worth it as we really liked our market name.

I still consider us a COLLECTIVE OF FARMERS. Even though our market is registered as a non-profit corp.

A collective of farmers is what a farmers market is all about. Each farmer who sells there handles his/her own cash and business table. In other words EACH Farmers market vendor IS THEIR OWN business,. They handle their own income and expenses.

A farmers market gives them an outlet to sell their farm products.

Most larger farmers’ markets are run as a business. They likely have set up fees collected every market day, paid by the vendors. These large farmers markets are usually run by paid market administrators and workers. They’ll have a large cash flow to operate with, possibly thousands of dollars.

Your market can get to be that big too. The farmers market I run handles under $500.00 in income and expenses a year. We are not planning to get large and complicated.

Make sure the vendors who set up do not put produce on the ground or in such a way someone could get hurt. See that the paths are free and clear so customers can get around. If you are able to leave a table at the site for the season make sure it is sturdy, safe and no nails are sticking out. At one of our market sites the workers on their break just loved our tables because they could eat their lunch outdoors at our site when we were not open for business.

If you can pull up and set up your produce display right where you are to be selling make sure your vendors come to the market on time and are set up before you open. Do not let them drive through your market after you are open to set up!

One tip we learned was keeping kids occupied gives their parents more relaxing time to shop.

We had a huge sandbox with trucks and digging toys at the center of our market area for kids to play and where we could see them. This worked out well for parent vendors too.

1. At least six to eight farmers/market vendors have shown a commitment to join your new market.

2. A location is decided upon for your market and the approvals and paperwork are finalized.

3. An advisory panel is picked (administrator, treasurer, secretary, and more) out of the people involved in your market.

4. You have a name, contact phone and mailing address decided upon. An e-mail address and access to a fax can also helpful.

5. There will be a good variety of produce being offered for sale at reasonable prices.

6. Your market day (s) and time (s) are finalized along with when you plan to open your market for the season.

7. Plans are being finalized on advertising to the public. Signs, flyers, radio, newspaper write-ups…..make sure articles and information are completely accurate!

Other issues may be brought up such as product insurance, grading, State Dept. of Agriculture guidelines and rules. Be ready with many questions at your meetings! Ask for guidance from your county or state on paperwork they will share. Find out if they can send out a person to answer the technical questions that will come up or have a phone number your vendors can call to find out directly.

THESE ISSUES CAN BE VERY IMPORTANT!

ORGANIZE YOUR MARKET PROPERLY BY AN ADVISORY PANEL OR OFFICERS

A small or big market needs to have organization to it in order to be successful. I have worked on our Market Bylaws for almost 10 years. We have made changes over the years, and had them voted in by the members as necessary. They may be helpful to you, so I will go over them here. You will benefit by our years of trial and error! We have six bylaws.

1. We specify when and where our meetings will be:

“Organizational meetings of officers and/or members will be held in Feb. through May (the last Monday unless another day is specifically designated beforehand) of the months specified; at 7 PM at a pre-determined location. Meetings can also be called after a market day, if needed.”

2. We specify when elections will be.

“Elections of members on the Advisory Panel for the new season will be held in March. Nomination ballots will be handed in advance, if needed. Any member wanting to run for an office will be placed up for election. “

3. We have our voting bylaws:

“The Market membership will vote Advisory Panel members in. Decisions will be made on a majority rule basis. At the time the new member accepts a position their duties begin. Absentee voting ballots, submitted beforehand, will be allowed for members upon their request, if they are unable to attend the meetings. Each member is allowed one vote. Secret ballots will be allowed when requested by the majority. “

4. Our terms of office:

“Each Advisory Panel member will serve a yearly term, but not more than two years, unless there is no willing replacement. At the end of their term, each officer will assist their replacement in the transition to the position. For the benefit of all members, the panel, may on a yearly basis, prior to the first voting meeting, review the records of the treasurer.”

5. Our dues are pretty strait forward:

“Membership dues will be determined based on the proposed yearly seasonal budget developed by the officers. Membership fee changes to be approved by 2/3 majority vote only.” NOTE: (Our dues are $20.00 for the season no matter how often you show up to sell.)

6. When we open and close every year, our Events:

“Market opening 3^rd Thursday in June and closing the first Thursday in October. Year end get- together to be held the 2nd Saturday after closing - Unless otherwise specified and voted on.”

(This concludes these 7 printable pages-  Click Here to go on to the next chapter.