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City wants local goods at market

March 28, 2010 12:36 am

BY EMILY BATTLE

Fredericksburg's downtown farmers market will kick into high gear next month with a new set of rules aimed at keeping vendors honest about where their produce was grown.

The city's market has always billed itself as a "producer-only" market for local fruits, vegetables and other products, but last year you could find Mexican tomatoes, Georgia peaches and avocados from more tropical climates amid the stalls.

City Councilman George Solley started talking to city officials and growers last summer about how to put in place clear rules and enforcement to back them up.

In the off-season, the city has set up a market committee, made up of eight market vendors and a few city residents who use the market.

Starting this year, all products sold at the market must be grown, produced, assembled or created within 75 miles of the market.

If a farmer resells produce that he or she didn't grow, it must be labeled with the name and location of the farm that grew it, that farm must be within the 75-mile radius, and the resale product can't make up more than 20 percent of a vendor's total offerings.

The fees for vendors to sell at the market are also going up. Last year, vendors had to pay a flat $50 fee to get a permit, and no spaces were reserved.

This year, vendors can pay $200 for the season for a reserved space on Saturdays only, or $500 for a reserved space seven days a week.

Vendors can still sell in unreserved spaces on a first-come, first-served basis for the $50 fee.

The market committee will be looking at applications and assigning spaces based on seniority and diversity of offerings this week.

Heading that committee are two vendors who have volunteered to be co-managers of the market--Tracy DeBernard of C&T Produce and Valentine Miller of Valentine's Country Meats.

DeBernard said she thinks the new rules will be more of a change for the vendors than for the consumers.

Having assigned spots will keep people from having to jockey for position in the wee hours of the morning, and the new rules on where produce can come from will rule out some products.

DeBernard, for example, said she won't be able to sell produce from the fields C&T owns in Georgia.

"It's a good thing as long as everyone abides by the rules," DeBernard said.

"I'm happy to sell only locally grown produce as long as the whole street is doing the same thing."

As in a lot of other markets, actually keeping things 100 percent locally grown will fall largely to the vendors themselves.

"We're hoping that just the new rules themselves will deter people from [selling non-local produce]," DeBernard said. "If it doesn't, we'll have to proceed with inspections."

For market shoppers, the new regime might be an education in when certain foods are in season here.

DeBernard said she would usually have tomatoes available now, bought from outside of the new market growing area.

She won't be selling those this year, so customers will have to wait for her greenhouse tomatoes to come in, she says, in about a month.

The same variety of produce will be available, but only when that item is in season locally.

Solley said there are still a lot of details to be worked out as the new rules go into place.

The city won't know exactly how much to expect in fee revenue until it sees how many vendors actually want to pay for reserved spaces. That money will go back into the market.

This year, Solley said, the city is hoping to paint markings on the curbs along Prince Edward and George streets to mark the vendor spots.

Other downtowns in the area are also trying to bring more energy to their markets.

Culpeper's downtown farmers market, run by the Culpeper Renaissance downtown group, offered live bluegrass and other music at some of last year's markets.

This year, market organizers hope to bring in family activities such as face-painting and a nutrition program for children.

Downtown Orange's farmers market hopes to encourage shoppers to stay for lunch this year. The market, run through the Orange Downtown Alliance, is trying to get vendors and other businesses to sponsor umbrella tables in the walkway between the rows of vendors.

And in Spotsylvania County, the Courthouse Farmers Market is moving from the parking lot of a government building into the "market square" at Courthouse Village.

Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com