Outdoor market vendors push for extended season
Photo/Courtesy city of Bangor
The Bangor Outdoor Market draws nearly 200 attendees every week
Robin Corson got a call earlier this week asking if she'd bring an extra case of Bar Harbor Jam Co.'s hot pepper jam to today's Bangor Outdoor Market, the final day of the weekly downtown event that's brought craftsmen, artisans and musicians together since June.
"Of course I will," says Corson of the request. She's been selling her family company's jams, syrups, muffins and more at its booth since June 10. "Our sales have been going up every week."
Bar Harbor Jam is one of the 35 vendors who anchor the Bangor Outdoor Market, offered in tandem with free outdoor concerts called Cool Sounds, to lure people to downtown Bangor. The event, born five years ago, has grown each year and now sprawls across the West Market Square and down Broad Street. For attendees, the Thursday mini-festivals have been a way to enjoy music, peruse vendors and enjoy a summer evening out without breaking the bank. But for the city, the event has been a means to bring vitality to its downtown and increase business for merchants.
"It's nice because it provides an opportunity for bringing people downtown with the goal of getting people here and exploring ... they make of a night of it," says Shirar Patterson, the city's business and economic development officer who oversees the event in conjunction with the Downtown Bangor Partnership. This summer's series typically drew 200 people to the three-hour event, and the number of vendors has nearly doubled since 2006, she says.
Patterson is collecting surveys from downtown businesses and the market vendors to assess how useful the event was to them and whether they have suggestions for next summer. She intends to analyze the data this fall in preparation for the 2011 season.
"The overall feedback has been positive," she says. "We had a lot of vendors ask why we don't do it longer than eight weeks. We thought asking for a commitment of 16 weeks was a long time, but some have told us they would do the whole thing."
Donna Mionis, owner of the Daily Bread, an artisanal bread baker in Levant, is one of the vendors who would like to see the event go longer. She says she routinely sells out of the 100-150 loaves she brings to the market each week.
"It's definitely been profitable for us," says Mionis, who focuses primarily on wholesale orders. She does all the baking in her home and doesn't have a retail storefront, so the exposure and contacts from the outdoor market have been important for her marketing.
"We do 10 farmers' markets a week," she says, "but one of the best things about the Bangor Outdoor Market is that we're one of the few food vendors. The music really draws people in, but because we're not selling beaded earrings or wooden spoons -- the kinds of things people won't probably buy every week -- we're seeing a lot of repeat business. People come down to hear the music and pick up a loaf of fresh bread on their way back home."
Mionis says she's gotten several commercial accounts from her downtown booth. A four-year veteran of the outdoor market, she intends to return next summer.
Patterson says the downtown location could accommodate 50 vendors, but organizers are careful to select vendors that represent a wide array of crafts and specialty products so they won't cannibalize each other's sales, or erode sales of downtown merchants and restaurateurs. The rental fees from the booths pay for the market itself while the lion's share of the event's $7,000 budget comes from underwriter Bangor Hydro Electric Co. and is used to pay for the concerts.
The music is key, says Corson, who signed up for the event for the first time this year as a way to increase exposure for Bar Harbor Jam Co.
"The bands are what really draw people in, they come to listen and stop by the booth to buy something," she says. "It's really worked for us. We'll probably be back next year."
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