By Pauline Benetti
Have you heard this news? The Pagosa Farmers Market is going ONLINE… year-round! The platform is in development right now, and though currently under construction, the system is open for pre-registration, no commitment, simply an opportunity for vendors to express interest and ask questions.
The announcement of a year-round Online Pagosa Farmers Market is going to raise questions, lots of them and we follow the announcement with information that will provide good answers to the big questions – Why? What?
First, however, we assure fans of the Saturday morning Market that it will continue in its normal location at the east end of town collocated with the East Side Market. What we do not know yet is the extent of COVID precautions that will be required and we won’t know that for a while. We will continue to accept SNAP cards and continue to hand out a $20 value of Double up Bucks for the first $20 SNAP purchase, essentially doubling purchasing power!
Here are some details:
Now through the end of 2021, at a minimum, vendors will bear no cost to get set-up on the website as we are waiving the setup and registration fees.
The Online Market will be year-round, obviously; equally obviously, fruits and vegetables and other seasonal produce and products will be in limited supply during the winter, so we are looking to expand our preserved and frozen food, and non-food offerings, by significant margins.
No resale items; this is NOT a flea market.
The online system does NOT handle product delivery; however, we do offer alternatives. During the summer (June to Sept) purchases may picked up at the Pagosa Farmers Market. During the off season, a central location will be available for deliveries. If shipping is appropriate, the arrangements will be between you and your customer.
Vendors in all three categories – Growers, Producers, Makers – are either local or regional, that means Archuleta County and surrounding areas.
Finally, the Online Market reserves the right to approve/disapprove products or vendors at its sole discretion.
If all that seems reasonable and acceptable, we invite you to start the registration process by completing the form at https://www.pagosafarmersmarket.net/vendreg. After submitting the pre-registration form you will receive a confirmation email to verify your information and confirm your pre-registration. Be sure to return your confirmation. Once this is complete the Market Manager will contact you to learn about your products and get you started on the next steps.
The Online Market will continue to feature the Growers and Producers involved in our food supply. Growers need no explanation; we simply need more people doing it, whether as small operations with a few acres or as backyard operations with even less space. The Small Growers Coop at the Saturday Market will continue to be available to our backyard growers when they have extra food to sell but not enough to support a solo operation. Growers are central but they cannot supply a year-round venue so market management has come up with a plan to expand the classes of goods that will be offered and to market that expansion as we are doing here. We take a look at the Producer and Maker classes.
With the Producer class we begin to expand our thinking to suggest new products ideally suited for sale online. In this class are those smart folks who have taken the CSU Cottage Food Production Classes and have their certificates. They are able to preserve, dry and bake food in their own kitchens for sale directly to the consumer. The possibilities are near endless: breads, biscuits, scones, cookies, tortillas, candy, dried pasta, dry baking mixes, fruit pies, empanadas and tamales, jams jellies, preserves and honey. A search of ”cottage food products” will serve as an inspiration for additional ideas that treated creatively will sell. People love home made products!
Also included in the Producer class of vendors are those who raise livestock and have chicken, rabbits, pork or USDA beef for sale. Cattle ranching is a major business in this county but the beef is either sold on the hoof or butchered for family consumption. With a year-round online venue, ranchers would find profit in raising good quality beef, processing through a USDA facility and selling locally. The Online Market is a simple and convenient way to display and sell these perishable products.
This brings us to a class of vendors for whom the Saturday Market is not appropriate but the Online Market is now actively promoting who are immune to the seasons and very well represented in our community – the Makers, whether they are Artist, Artisan or Crafters, they work with their hands and minds and imagination to make aesthetically pleasing, or useful or fun items. The Online Market offers a perfect venue for Art (oil, acrylic, water color, feather…sculpture, photography), for Artisan skills (carving, quilting, sewing, ceramics, jewelry…), for Crafts (fine soap, body lotion, bead work…). Our objective is to have the huge variety of local Makers on display for local and visitor viewing and purchase.
Now… Why? With an online venue the folks who grow and produce food can plan to increase their production, preserve the surplus if appropriate, and sell year-round. The boost to production will have the effect of increasing the local food supply and year-round sales will boost the bottom line of those so engaged. Our Makers will appeal especially, but not exclusively, to the tourist who wants to take back home something of Pagosa that travels well.
The end result is a more resilient and economically vital community. It is this scenario that interests the Town of Pagosa Springs and the Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board and has prompted both organizations to support the Pagosa Farmers Market, both the Live and Online venues.
Stay tuned for the opening date… and click here to pre-register.
Pauline Benetti is Market Manager for the Pagosa Farmers Market.