Demand fuels expansion of winter farmers' market
Photo/Rebecca Goldfine
Squash is displayed at the winter farmers' market in Brunswick. Portland officials recently voted to expand the city's market to allow more farmers to participate.
Last night, Portland's city councilors unanimously approved a new winter market, allowing farmers to sell their goods indoors from January to May and to tap into an increasingly bountiful source of cold-weather income.
This will be the second winter for an indoor market here, but the first at its new location. Last year, farmers set up in a building on Free Street, which was too cramped for its 19 or so vendors. "We needed more space to invite more farmers to participate," explains one of the market organizers, Jaime Berhanu, of Lalibela Farm in Dresden. "We want it to be a comfortable place for people to come and not be back-to-back with other customers."
The new market will open Jan. 8 in the Maine Irish Heritage Center in the former St. Dominic's church, a High Victorian Gothic cathedral built in 1828 on the corner of State and Gray streets. The space is more than 5,000 square feet, Berhanu says, at least 2,000 more square feet than last year.
So far, between 15 and 20 vendors have signed up, and market organizers say there's enough room in the church basement for as many as 40 all together. Because the lucrative Portland summertime market has a waiting list of about 20 farms, Berhanu says the open slots in the winter market provide new growers with a competitive business opportunity. Farmers' markets often make up the bulk of small organic farm sales -- for some, well over 75% -- according to farmer Daniel Price of Freedom Farm in Freedom, who says 60% of his gross revenue derives from Portland's summer market alone.
The winter market will be open Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. until the end of April. Farmers will sell carrots, turnips, squash, potatoes, greens, cheese, pickles and jams, kimchi and sauerkraut, pork, salami, tempeh, chicken, eggs and honey, according to Swallowtail Farm's Lauren Pignatello, who plans to sell milk, kefir and yogurt at the Portland winter market.
Winter markets are becoming an increasingly common way for people to buy fresh food, and consequently are a growing revenue stream for growers. Melissa White Pillsbury, the marketing coordinator for the Maine Organic Growers and Farmers Association, says there are 22 winter markets in Maine now, both indoors and outdoors, with some going back more than six years.
Portland, despite its busy summer markets and its reputation as the gastronomic hub of the state, was a little slower to latch onto the trend. The city has a unique requirement that its farmers be licensed and that city farmers' markets be restricted to vendors who produce most of what they sell. This regulation is designed to purify, in a way, the link between customer and grower. Pillsbury says this regulation, combined with high property values and the challenge of finding a seasonal location that is zoned for a market, contributed to the city's lag.
But Portland winter vendors are anticipating a strong showing for season two, even while admitting the winter is inevitably slower than the summertime. "I think one of the things that is fairly obvious here in Maine is that in the summer we have the tourist season, so summer sales will always be higher than winter sales," Berhanu of Lalibela Farm points out. She says the months between November and May account for 30% to 40% of her farm's total revenues.
Pillsbury agrees. "The following and customer base is smaller, generally the markets meet less frequently or for shorter periods of time, and inclement weather can be an issue," she says.
She adds, however, that winter opportunities are increasing. As farmers see the growing possibility of winter markets, they are dedicating more land to crops they can sell throughout the year. "I think there is a lot of potential there to diversify their income and marketing strategy, and plan more to specifically sell at winter markets."
At the same time, the extra months of exposure helps farms remain longer in their customers' consciousnesses and possibly attract new fans. "I think there is a lot of value in consistently engaging with the community and keeping them coming through the winter," Berhanu says.
Pignatello says she's got big expectations for Portland's winter market.
"We have a large untapped winter market area," she says. "In wintertime people are looking for something to do. [The new market] is in a beautiful spot, it is in a neighborhood, people can walk or pull sleds, [and] we'll have a children's table, bathrooms and music. I think it will work out to be just a great relationship builder between farmer and customer."
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