BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Area Farmers' Market (BAFM) is proudly celebrating 50-plus years of bringing locally grown produce to southeastern Vermont, and invites you - whether you are a foodie, a restaurateur, a health enthusiast, or simply someone who loves to be outside - to join us!
We offer the freshest foods and agricultural products that can be produced in our Vermont soils. The market additionally offers our community a welcoming outdoor gathering place, with live music, tables to use while talking with friends or watching the children play in the sandbox, or while enjoying any of a delicious variety of international foods.
While the market currently boasts as many as 60 vendors, on any given day, you could purchase handmade soaps; lamb skins; hand-drawn cards; maple syrup; duck, pork, or lamb; eggs; starts for your garden; gorgeous bouquets; mushrooms; beautiful silver jewelry; rhubarb wine; fresh brewed coffee; fresh breads; croissants or other pastries; Indian food; Thai food; crêpes; freshly made goat cheese wraps; fresh squeezed juices; hot chai; dumplings; Afghan food and, of course, whatever produce is in season.
But the market was not always the bustling shopping locale of today. In 1973, the BAFM was merely an idea around which a group of idealistic youth gathered to conjure up a new venue at which to market their wares.
How did this idea burgeon into the market you can visit today?
Well, here is the story as told by some of the people who were in the room where it happened.
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It all began with an notice in the Brattleboro Reformer from a NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) outreach person, Robert Houriet, inviting local farmers to come to a meeting about starting a farmers market in Brattleboro.
As Howard Prussack, one of the first vendors, recalled, "There were maybe six or eight of us who showed up. Not very many people. So our first market had maybe four vendors!"
Ron Krupp, one of the early organizers, became a public face of the group. Peter Gould and Marty Jezer from Packer Corners, Jon Julian, Dwight Miller, Lee Joffey, Jack Mannix, Buddy Speno, Joseph Teller, Bea Ward, and Bob Gray were some of the other vendors that first year, and soon after Jay and Janet Bailey and others came on board.
It was not long after the Vietnam war, and bubbling in the background were ideological movements born out of a desire for change, and a movement back to the land inspired by authors Helen and Scott Nearing, so people were interested in alternatives to industrial farms and processed foods.
As Jay Bailey of Fairwinds Farms said, "There was an understanding that we can do more together than separately, just like in a barn raising. You get people together and organized, and a group of people can push a car out of the mud. A bunch of people can do a whole lot of things."
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Together, with help from the UVM Extension, the Vermont Department of Agriculture, and the Windham Regional Planning Commission, they organized and created the market.
"Buddy Speno was a great help - he knew all the people to talk to and all the permits required," Howard recalled.
The town had a lot of questions, because no one had ever had a business out of doors in town. Retailers in Brattleboro felt that the market would bring the wrong crowd to town, that the market would benefit from not paying rent, and that they would be getting a "free ride."
Over time, though, once customers came for the market, they often went to downtown to spend as well, and a détente was reached between the commercial stores and the farmers.
"I knew we were on to something the first day," Howard said. "We would have 500 to 700 people coming through, and eventually the town saw that the market was benefitting everyone."
"We were clear we did not want to be a flea market," Jay said. "If we were going to be a farmers market we had to have food [...] produce and ingredients that can be produced locally. Fruits and honey and meat."
The BAFM monitored the goods and services to create a market where 65% of vendors offered produce; 25%, crafts; and 10%, prepared foods.
"We found this worked well, and that it was better to have too many produce vendors so that the market appeared full and attractive," Jay said. "In the beginning, people used to drive up in a truck and just lay out food on the ground. We learned though that presentation was important and strived to make the market an attraction for shoppers."
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The market evolved along the way, creating a board of directors right from the start. Then a manager became necessary.
"It was worth paying someone to do this job," Jay said.
The vendors decided they wanted to increase their gross sales. The first year saw them take in $10,000 for the year, but after one year of efforts to increase sales, they doubled that number.
"I used to walk around market, noting down everything I saw for sale," Jay said. "Then I would call WTSA and read the list out live on the radio, and it was great advertising for the market."
The market has been a great incubator of new businesses, such as recent restauranteurs Tito's Taqueria and Dosa Kitchen. Howard remembered watching Anon's Thai Cuisine as the grandmother of the family squatted near a charcoal brazier preparing satay, and he recalls enjoying the haymaker's switchel and baked beans in a jar that Beatrice Ward would bring to market in the '80s.
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Another important factor in the life of the market was finding a location, a project that was finalized only two years ago with the purchase of one last piece of land.
The market opened on Eliott Street behind the firehouse in what was then an asphalt parking lot, and it has moved only one other time to what became the Royal Chelsea Diner before arriving on the permanent grounds on Route 9. That is quite remarkable.
Over the years, the BAFM has purchased five contiguous plots of land, which together form the current footprint of the market and the parking lots. The last tract was just purchased two years ago and is still being paid off.
The fact that the market has been able, through member work and direction, to remain open and thriving, all the while securing financial stability and a lasting presence in Brattleboro, is truly a testimony to the foresight of those idealistic farmers of the '70s and to the agricultural community of southern Vermont who worked together to create what is now our Brattleboro Area Farmers' Market.
Looking ahead, Howard points out that to survive, the market must remain true to the original mission: to offer a space for farmers to market their produce directly to the consumer.
If this goal is forgotten and the market no longer has real farmers selling their own products, the customers will react and stop coming. The farmers market must always stay connected to Vermont soil and Vermont farmers, because as Howard notes, "Even in the rain, our customers would always come out to support us farmers!"
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Please join us on Saturday, May 17, when the public is invited to a celebration starting at 1 p.m. at the market. Guest speakers include Jay Bailey, Howard Prussack, Cole North, Martha Miller, Emilie Kornheiser, and a representative from NOFA.
Cake from the Hidden Bean Bakeshop and Orchard Hill Breadworks will be served to all who come. We hope you will contribute your memories to a virtual and/or physical guest book about the market.
Happy 50 years to the Brattleboro Area Farmers' Market!
Johanna Gardner is the proprietor of Trollhaugen Farm. in Newfane and a member of the Brattleboro Area Farmers' Market's website, marketing, and social media committee. The Commons' Deeper Dive column gives nonprofits, artists, and community organizations in the region elbow room to write in first person and/or be unabashedly opinionated, passionate, and analytical about their own creative work and events.
This News column was submitted to The Commons.