As winter draws to a close and spring arrives, the Hillsdale farmer’s market prepares to open again in mid-May, the weekend after Mother’s Day.
“You can’t fight with Mother’s Day,” said the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market President Glenn Frobel. “If you want to open a market on Mother’s day, you’ll fail.”
The administrative team, led by Frobel, began meeting in January to organize the fifth year of the Hillsdale farmer’s market, approving new vendors — all artisans have to go through a jury process – and adjusting deadlines and parking rules.
“We had problems with people parking in areas where our customers should be and changed the registration deadlines to get more people in,” Frobel said.
In addition, vendors will be required to have their cars unloaded and removed from the market area by 7:30 a.m. In years past, they only had to leave by 8 a.m. when the market officially opened, but so many customers came early, there were safety concerns.
“We take safety very seriously,” Frobel said. “Everyone signs waivers to not hold the county liable for any accidents or problems.”
Individual vendors are also busy getting ready for the new season.
Frobel and his wife, Margaret, grow kale, spinach, carrots, and lettuce all through the winter.
“I also sell baked goods and we do laundry detergent and artisan things in addition to the produce,” Margaret Frobel said. “Bead and leather work, some sewed items, table runners. You don’t have much time to work on projects like that during the summer, so that kind of stuff you work on making in the winter.”
Fellow baker and market artisan, Ruth Ann Cromwell, spends the winters experimenting with new knitting patterns and recipes, though she plans to keep seasonal favorites including her oatmeal bread, dilly bread, caramel corn, and homemade toffee.
Candace Gardiner runs a booth with her parents, Orville and Edith Gose, where they primarily sell tree nuts. During the winter, she updates her awareness of food safety, cottage food laws, growing procedures, new varieties and pests, Gardiner said.
“To put it in a simple term: learning, always learning,” she said.
The work of a vendor “never really stops,” Frobel said. “You’re always thinking ahead.”
And come May, the rest of the Hillsdale community will get to benefit from the hard work of the Hillsdale farmer’s market administrators and vendors.
vcooney@hillsdale.edu