RIDGWAY – Ridgway’s Farmers Market is moving from Sundays to Friday afternoons this summer, beginning Friday, June 10, at the 4-H Event Center parking lot at the fairgrounds.
Market board member Dave Butts said he knows “it might take a little while for people to get used to the new day and time” (1-5 p.m.), but he hopes the community will support it, and there are good reasons for the shift.
“We thought that on Sundays we were missing a lot of people. A lot of locals go out hiking or mountain biking on the weekends. There are the people who go to church on Sundays. And we just thought a lot of people like to do their shopping prior to the weekend.
“We’re also hoping to get some Telluride traffic with people coming down the hill on Friday afternoons.”
Butts is excited about the expanded list of vendors coming for this, the market’s 12th year. (Some of them are profiled on the market’s new website, www.farmersmarketridgway.com). He said there will be 13 or 14 “seasonal” vendors, those who have signed up for the whole season, June 10 to mid-October (weather permitting). There will also be “deli vendors” who come just for the day.
Among the new vendors are: Spirit Trail Farm, bringing lamb and goat meat, Greek pastries and bread, and some herbs; 101 Reasons, from Ouray, with marinated goat cheeses and Caesar salad dressings; Homemade by Dale, from Montrose, with homemade jams and jellies and syrups; Early Morning Orchard, from Grand Junction; and High Creek Farms, from Ridgway, with vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, hanging baskets and hanging tomato plants.
Returning vendors from past years include Living Springs, with all-organic produce from west of Delta; Buckhorn Gardens, with all kinds of fresh produce from their dome in Colona; The Daily Bread from Montrose; Fat Kid Ice Cream, with organic ice creams from Telluride; and Butts’ own Mountain Breeze Soap Works.
“It’s a small market,” Butts said. “But we’re really trying to grow it.” To that end, he encourages any home gardeners in the area with a surplus to “come and sell their stuff.” All you have to do is go to the website and fill out the application.
The Ridgway Farmers Market is committed to promoting Colorado agriculture; so all vendors must sell only Colorado goods. “And I’d say 99 percent is local,” Butts said.
Also new for this year is the addition of live music every Friday at the market. “And we now have a newsletter type feature on our website. You can sign up to get an email alert as to what is coming each week. For example, this week will likely be mostly early cold crops, spinach and greens and maybe some early cherry tomatoes. But as the other crops come in, the fruits, the tomatoes, you can get an update.”
Butts wanted especially to thank the two new community board members who helped with the new logo and website design, Nicole Greene and Justine Wilson, along with Tim Lyons.
For more information, call Market Manager Paul Scnheider 970/901-1189 or 964-8921 or or email sny4333@aol.com.
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