Post by admin on Jul 29, 2009 6:17:16 GMT -5
Farming Woes: Parking Shortage Plagues Weekly Farmer’s Market
The farmers are getting ready to throw in their melons. The weekly Freehold Borough Farmer’s Market, it seems, is not bringing in the produce-loving customers it has in other years, and the four farms that persisted through midday lunch on Tuesday wondered how they might cope.
Robert Mount of End**e's Farm sells goods at Tuesday's Farmer's Market, but doesn't know if he will return.
The Farmer’s Market, sponsored by the Freehold Center Partnership, brings together four or five local farms each Tuesday in front of the Hall of Records on Main Street. This week, though, some farmers seemed distraught at the lack of customers, increase in competition, and limiting logistics of the market.
Sellers at the farm stands agreed that parking for customers and farmers alike had become a problem. On Tuesday, streets bordering the market were closed to traffic and parking, forcing customers to walk a few blocks to public parking lots. For those unable to walk with heavy groceries, there seemed to be few alternatives.
“It’s been a slow year,” said Jeanette Hauser of Old Bridge’s Hauser Hill Farms. “Seniors or people who can’t walk far with produce can’t come. It’s really only a walker’s market.”
Main Street was indeed flooded with walkers at around noon on Tuesday, though the market only seemed to attract about thirty of them. Four stands were set up on either end of the courtyard in front of the Hall of Records—three hawking vegetables and one selling potted flowers.
Brian Surgent of The Farm explains eggplant varieties to a customer.
For most customers that wandered through the farm tables, the fresh produce was the main attraction. Most tables overflowed with summer stars like fresh-picked corn and tomatoes, deep-purple eggplants, and shiny green peppers. Children in strollers nibbled on 25-cent peaches, picked the day before at orchards in South Jersey.
Still, all was not peachy. With cucumbers at two-for-a-dollar and a basket full of six summer squash for just $4, some sellers were worried they weren’t getting enough customers to turn profit.
“Already traffic is kind of slow, rent is high, and I have to pay the help,” said Robert Mount of End**e's Farm concerning the $30 table fee and extra help cleaning and organizing the produce. “I don’t know if I’ll come back.”
Though business people scurried in and out of buildings around the downtown, the market was mostly populated by people out strolling with children or pets. Two jurors stopped to ogle, but said they couldn’t drag their purchases around the courthouse all day or leave them in the car. Logistical problems seemed to abound.
Amanda Brockwell, an employee of the Monmouth County Farmland Preservation, explained that she worked in one of the county buildings nearby and shopped at the market often, but that big departments were under construction and relocated to buildings farther away, diminishing the likelihood of workers just stopping by for an apple or a peach.
“There are also limitations on farmers here,” she said as she strolled the market carrying a watermelon. The restrictions on size and number of stands were tough on sellers, she explained.
“At most markets you can just sell off the back of your truck,” Mount explained. “Here, you have to carry your goods from your truck all the way down the street to the market. It’s a ton of work, especially in this heat.”
Still, other stands were more optimistic. Shelly Hooper and Brian Surgent, who had picked the eggplants and peppers dotting The Farm’s stand just that morning, said the pace was just fine for a small operation like theirs.
“People are looking for quality a lot more now than they were before,” Hooper said. “There are more markets, more choices, more grassroots attention to this sort of stuff—so some businesses are hurting. But we have a small amount of goods, and only do one or two markets a week. So it helps us, but hurts the wholesalers and bigger farms.”
As for parking and pedestrian traffic, Hooper agreed they were problematic.
“We could fix some things,” she said, explaining other local markets that had increased parking and were more pedestrian-friendly. “The brass ring of farmer’s markets around here really is Red Bank because they have parking, a street-shopping culture, and social awareness,” she said.
Brockwell, whose office works closely with the Partnership, said they are thinking of ways to improve the farmer’s market, including increasing awareness and possibly finding a better spot.
“My personal idea,” Brockwell offered, “would be to relocate to the Racetrack. There are ties between farms and the equine industry, there’s parking, there are people, it’s a good opportunity. Eventually, we’d like to work to get a USDA grant to help grow the market,” she said.
Still, interest in the market and fresh farm goods seems to be growing, according to market shoppers and farmers. Anita Gillyard, a courthouse employee out on her lunch hour, gushed about the goods at End**e’s farm stand.
“Look at those peppers!” she exclaimed, pointing. “This reminds me of when I was a little girl—the produce is bigger, the tomatoes look riper. You can’t get that at the supermarket, it really is better.”
And for some, it seemed, logistics were not an issue, at least not compared to the benefits of getting quality produce in the middle of the workday. Brockwell explained she usually picked up dinner at the market, since it was close to her office, and Gillyard carried her bags off towards the courthouse.
“If you work right there at the courthouse,” Gillyard said, cradling her bags full of vegetables, “you can just come down and get your stuff—it’s great!”
freehold.injersey.com/2009/07/28/farming-woes-parking-shortage-plagues-weekly-farmers-market/
The farmers are getting ready to throw in their melons. The weekly Freehold Borough Farmer’s Market, it seems, is not bringing in the produce-loving customers it has in other years, and the four farms that persisted through midday lunch on Tuesday wondered how they might cope.
Robert Mount of End**e's Farm sells goods at Tuesday's Farmer's Market, but doesn't know if he will return.
The Farmer’s Market, sponsored by the Freehold Center Partnership, brings together four or five local farms each Tuesday in front of the Hall of Records on Main Street. This week, though, some farmers seemed distraught at the lack of customers, increase in competition, and limiting logistics of the market.
Sellers at the farm stands agreed that parking for customers and farmers alike had become a problem. On Tuesday, streets bordering the market were closed to traffic and parking, forcing customers to walk a few blocks to public parking lots. For those unable to walk with heavy groceries, there seemed to be few alternatives.
“It’s been a slow year,” said Jeanette Hauser of Old Bridge’s Hauser Hill Farms. “Seniors or people who can’t walk far with produce can’t come. It’s really only a walker’s market.”
Main Street was indeed flooded with walkers at around noon on Tuesday, though the market only seemed to attract about thirty of them. Four stands were set up on either end of the courtyard in front of the Hall of Records—three hawking vegetables and one selling potted flowers.
Brian Surgent of The Farm explains eggplant varieties to a customer.
For most customers that wandered through the farm tables, the fresh produce was the main attraction. Most tables overflowed with summer stars like fresh-picked corn and tomatoes, deep-purple eggplants, and shiny green peppers. Children in strollers nibbled on 25-cent peaches, picked the day before at orchards in South Jersey.
Still, all was not peachy. With cucumbers at two-for-a-dollar and a basket full of six summer squash for just $4, some sellers were worried they weren’t getting enough customers to turn profit.
“Already traffic is kind of slow, rent is high, and I have to pay the help,” said Robert Mount of End**e's Farm concerning the $30 table fee and extra help cleaning and organizing the produce. “I don’t know if I’ll come back.”
Though business people scurried in and out of buildings around the downtown, the market was mostly populated by people out strolling with children or pets. Two jurors stopped to ogle, but said they couldn’t drag their purchases around the courthouse all day or leave them in the car. Logistical problems seemed to abound.
Amanda Brockwell, an employee of the Monmouth County Farmland Preservation, explained that she worked in one of the county buildings nearby and shopped at the market often, but that big departments were under construction and relocated to buildings farther away, diminishing the likelihood of workers just stopping by for an apple or a peach.
“There are also limitations on farmers here,” she said as she strolled the market carrying a watermelon. The restrictions on size and number of stands were tough on sellers, she explained.
“At most markets you can just sell off the back of your truck,” Mount explained. “Here, you have to carry your goods from your truck all the way down the street to the market. It’s a ton of work, especially in this heat.”
Still, other stands were more optimistic. Shelly Hooper and Brian Surgent, who had picked the eggplants and peppers dotting The Farm’s stand just that morning, said the pace was just fine for a small operation like theirs.
“People are looking for quality a lot more now than they were before,” Hooper said. “There are more markets, more choices, more grassroots attention to this sort of stuff—so some businesses are hurting. But we have a small amount of goods, and only do one or two markets a week. So it helps us, but hurts the wholesalers and bigger farms.”
As for parking and pedestrian traffic, Hooper agreed they were problematic.
“We could fix some things,” she said, explaining other local markets that had increased parking and were more pedestrian-friendly. “The brass ring of farmer’s markets around here really is Red Bank because they have parking, a street-shopping culture, and social awareness,” she said.
Brockwell, whose office works closely with the Partnership, said they are thinking of ways to improve the farmer’s market, including increasing awareness and possibly finding a better spot.
“My personal idea,” Brockwell offered, “would be to relocate to the Racetrack. There are ties between farms and the equine industry, there’s parking, there are people, it’s a good opportunity. Eventually, we’d like to work to get a USDA grant to help grow the market,” she said.
Still, interest in the market and fresh farm goods seems to be growing, according to market shoppers and farmers. Anita Gillyard, a courthouse employee out on her lunch hour, gushed about the goods at End**e’s farm stand.
“Look at those peppers!” she exclaimed, pointing. “This reminds me of when I was a little girl—the produce is bigger, the tomatoes look riper. You can’t get that at the supermarket, it really is better.”
And for some, it seemed, logistics were not an issue, at least not compared to the benefits of getting quality produce in the middle of the workday. Brockwell explained she usually picked up dinner at the market, since it was close to her office, and Gillyard carried her bags off towards the courthouse.
“If you work right there at the courthouse,” Gillyard said, cradling her bags full of vegetables, “you can just come down and get your stuff—it’s great!”
freehold.injersey.com/2009/07/28/farming-woes-parking-shortage-plagues-weekly-farmers-market/
