City of Farmington seeks vendors for market

Talk about it

Temperatures may still be in the freezing range, but Cindy Muller is already planning the 2012 Farmington farmer’s market.

Last year’s market included 18 vendors, most of whom sold produce. This year, Muller is looking for a few more specialty food vendors and, for the first time, crafters.

Muller plans to start a new “crafter’s lane” at the market. She’s looking for items like handcrafted soaps and lotions, wood carvings, hand-made jewelry, ceramics and pottery, quilts and dried flowers.

“It’s just to give local crafters the opportunity to show what they have, show off the local talent,” she said. “We did have a lot of requests for that last year, too.”

By way of specialty foods, Muller is looking for items like homemade jams and jellies, salsas, candy and confections. She is not interested in home-based businesses like Pampered Chef, Tupperware and Avon.

It might seem like it’s kind of early to be thinking about a farmer’s market — especially since Farmington’s doesn’t start until June 14 — but the deadline for vendors is April 1. She sets that deadline early so farmers have time to plan their crops and other vendors have time to plan their inventory.

So far, Muller has applications from six vendors for the 2012 market run. She’s also spoken with four others who have said they plan to participate. And though there were 18 last year, there is plenty of room for more in 2012.

Muller has also been contacting vendors online and inviting them to apply for Farmington’s market.

“I’ll take however many I can get. If they want to come, I’ll find room for them,” she said.

The market will be held in the same location this year, on Third Street between Oak and Spruce streets. Last year was the first year in that location, in front of city hall. Most people liked the location, Muller said, because it was spread out and easy to find.

This will be the fourth year the city of Farmington has held a farmer’s market. The market opens June 14, during Dew Days, and will run every Thursday through Sept. 13. Muller has prices for booths on the city’s website, www.ci.farmington.mn.us. The city of Farmington is a member of Minnesota Grown and the Minnesota Farmer’s Market Association.

Tags: home and garden, news, farmington, community