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Folks visit the Hurkamp Park farmers market on Saturday. Though the city code prohibits selling anything not grown, made or caught by the vendor, the rule is seldom enforced.
Fredericksburg may strengthen oversight of the Hurkamp Park farmers market to ensure that customers receive only locally grown produce.
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Tomatoes from Mexico and avocados from tropical climates are things you expect to find in grocery store produce sections, but all of those things have been for sale at Fredericksburg's Hurkamp Park farmers market this year.
Fredericksburg's city code makes it unlawful to sell anything not grown, made or caught by the vendors themselves at its Hurkamp Park farmers market.
But as City Councilman George Solley found when he began to look into it, "We really don't have the staff or available time to oversee the market ourselves."
Solley is hoping to recruit volunteers who are interested in seeing the market run in a more organized way. In particular, he is looking for someone who would be willing to serve as a volunteer market manager, to oversee enforcement of rules on where produce for sale can come from.
He said his first step will be to submit a draft proposal for new rules and a new ordinance to govern the market. He said he would like for a new management structure to be in place at least as early as next year's growing season.
According to Tracy DeBernard, whose C&T Produce is the Fredericksburg market's most regular vendor, a farmers market with good enforcement is hard to find.
"There is no market that sells only homegrown," she said. "It's not enforced."
DeBernard said she got a letter from the city this year informing her that someone had complained that C&T was selling out-of-state produce.
She admits she had bought plums and peppers to sell because they were in demand, but they were labeled as out-of-state.
"I thought, I'll be glad to not sell the plums, but all these other vendors that have lettuce and celery, and you ask them, 'Is it local?' and they say, 'Yes'--that annoys me," she said. "I'm all for revamping the rules, but it's got to be enforced."
DeBernard said that even yearly inspections of vendors' farms don't prevent re-selling in some of the eight markets at which her farm sells.
She suggested lowering the number of vendors at markets, charging as much as $500 for a spot at the city's market, since it runs six days a week, and performing weekly inspections of farms to ensure that they really are growing what they are selling.
She admits that's probably hard to sustain.
"What budget is going to allow someone to go out visiting farms in a 100-mile radius every week?"
Other farmers markets in the area are run by volunteer boards, or by the downtown revitalization nonprofits in towns such as Orange and Culpeper.
Williamsburg, whose market in Merchants Square recently won a national award from the Farmland Trust, takes a different approach.
That market began with a handful of founding sponsors and an advisory committee that met for a year to determine what the goals and mission of the market should be, then hired a market manager to make that happen.
Market Manager Libbey Oliver said goods sold in the market must be produced or grown by the vendors. The market seeks growers who are close by, but it will allow growers from as far as 150 to 200 miles away if it wants to add a certain product to its merchandise mix, such as apples from Nelson County.
Oliver said the producer-only rule is important, because without it, vendors might all end up buying and reselling the same products to make sure they weren't caught without something someone might want.
"Pretty soon, you just totally don't have a handle on it, and you've lost the face that goes with the product," she said. "You want to really talk to the person who can tell you what a struggle it was when they had the frost or the hail storm."
The Williamsburg market has also become an event in itself. Each week, a chef from a different restaurant hosts cooking demonstrations, and live music adds to the atmosphere.
Vendors pay a percentage of their sales to be there.
Solley said he's not sure yet exactly what form the Fredericksburg market's
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
| If you're interested in working on a new plan for the Fredericksburg Farmers Market, contact Brenda Martin in the city manager's office at bmartin@fredericks burgva.gov. |
