Open Air Farmer’s Market returns to Pottstown

So it is finally summer, the snow is gone and we have a lot of great activities going on throughout the season, including more businesses opening in the Downtown District!

One of our bigger events that began on June 14 is the Pottstown FARM – An Open Air Farmer’s Market which runs along the clock tower at Charlotte and High St., every second and fourth Thursday of the month between 5 and 7:30 p.m.

Why Thursday evenings instead of Saturday? Why aren’t there more vegetables and fruits? Why can’t we get avocados and oranges? A lot of why’s we hope to answer for you today.

In 2015, a group of volunteers got together to help form what is now in its third season of the Pottstown FARM. We sent out surveys, visited more than 15 other Farmer’s Markets and did a lot of research. And oh, did we learn a lot!

1. New markets are in competition with older ones, and it isn’t easy to compete with big, older markets.

2. Vendors may risk adding a new market, but have yet to jump ship completely from a market they have been a part of for many years. This knocked Saturdays and Sundays out of the running for Pottstown’s new Open-Air Market.

3. Though we may have had visitors coming to the open-air market on the weekends, we definitely would not have had vendors. So we met, and created a new plan. Looked for vendors who produced their own product at least 90 percent of the time, who aren’t spending a large part of their time at other markets and have enough staff to accommodate a new market. It had its risks, but we were up to the challenge.

4, We wondered what would benefit the community in the long run? Possibly, a Thursday evening market that brought live music, speakers and vendors all together in one place? Hmmmm, so maybe, we could start a night life we all want to see grow in our downtown.

5. We needed to find funding, look for self-producing vendors, create a logo, find musicians, and the best space...which in and of itself was a pretty tough task.

6. We decided on a logo. We found vendors who sold vegetables as well as other unique foods and artisan products. What we didn’t do, was think about which fruits and vegetables are native to Pennsylvania (grown by self-producing farmers)…and we quickly learned firsthand why you won’t find avocados at any of our stands, nor oranges, or pineapples. And to add insult to injury, late snow and lots of rain has put a damper on some of our local produce this season. One potentially new vendor was unable to join us at the last minute because they are small and having other markets, the weather would not allow for enough produce to join us. Another new farmer has already told us he is concerned for his strawberry crop, the rains have caused them to droop and become moldy, so be prepared, if we get them, they may be a little higher in price this season.

So here we are, at the Pottstown FARM (Farm & Artisan Regional Market), enjoying our third season and growing rapidly! We are super excited to have more local vegetables and fruits than in the past…some great new and old Artisans…but, we are still in need of volunteers! Most importantly, we need people like you to come out and enjoy an evening of fun and entertainment. Meet our farmers and learn what they do best. Help us spread the word that we are here and waiting to meet the community! Share our Facebook Posts, visit our website and enjoy the freshness! www.pottstownfarm.org.

To volunteer, please contact Sheila Dugan at 610-323-5400 or email sheiladugan@comcast.net.