Sustainability Lessons from a Connecticut Farm Market
Recently, I sat down with Winter Caplanson of the Coventry Regional Farmers' Market in Connecticut. Called "One of the Top Ten things to do this weekend!" by the Boston Globe, I wondered if Winter could share their story, and her thoughts behind their successful growth over the last 8 years.
The Coventry Regional Farmers' Market is the strongest and most influential farm market in all of Connecticut.
Their opening day? June 6th. You had better believe that I'll be there!
How did the Coventry Market get started?
A few forces converged. Coventry's Town Manager, John Elsessor, was interested in having a market in town. Jean Nelson, his intern at the time, had done research on the locations in town that might work best. Carole Miller and Winter Caplanson had been vendors at other farmers' markets and felt it was possible to create a market more like the Brattleboro, VT market... a destination market that is a cultural and community hub. Dick Giggey, a long-standing Coventry activist, was dreaming about a market like the Ithaca, NY market. With the Town Manager's support, Jean, Dick, Carole, and Winter drafted friends and family to form a committee to explore the possibilities of a market in Coventry. About 10 months later, we opened. We will begin our seventh season on opening day, June 6, 2010.
How have you strategically grown and adapted to meet both consumer and vendor needs?
For several years now, we have conducted an extensive customer survey at the conclusion of the season. Customer suggestions and preferences lay our roadmap for annual improvements and additions to the market.
Our customers have a strong preference for food grown without chemicals and each year we have added a Certified Organic grower as well as Certified Naturally-Grown and Farmers' Pledge growers so that the market is now predominantly offering food grown without chemicals. Our growers are nimble and add varieties of produce customers suggest.
Customers value the quality and diversity of products in the market. Our largest growth area has been the continued addition of wonderful, specialty foods produced in Connecticut: salsa, pesto, fresh pasta and sauces, handmade chocolates, granola, coffee, seasoning blends, olive oil and balsamic, herbal and flavored vinegars, ice cream, and more.
Customers asked for more meats, cheeses dairy and can now buy local, naturally-raised beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and lamb as well as eggs, bacon, sausage, kielbasa and seafood caught off Connecticut shores. We have 4 excellent cheese makers and a dairy offering milk, yogurt, and butter.
Customers wanted to buy local foods in the wintertime. Last year our WinterFresh Market debuted and was very popular and well-attended.
When customers request a local product we don't have available in the market, we recruit the best producer in the state. We are able to lure these amazing vendors because we are able to assure them that our customers are eager to buy their product. We track sales and attendance and can give vendors an idea of the potential for direct sales at the market. We do not over saturate the market with any product. We seek out the best producers and do everything possible to ensure they have strong sales at our market.
How has the community reacted to the Coventry Farmers' Market? How has their awareness of our local food supply grown?
Community support has been consistently strong. Word of mouth has always been our best advertisement. We aim to exceed customer expectations. It's not unusual for a customer, upon visiting our market for the first time, to stand open mouthed and look a little stunned, gazing out at the huge, bustling market. "I'd heard the Coventry market was great but LOOK at this..." they wonder aloud. They come back... with friends.
As the market started to draw larger and larger crowds, we outgrew our first location and decided to defy conventional wisdom and move the market to a larger site that had virtually no visibility, low drive by traffic and was on winding back roads. Almost everyone felt the need to tell us that the move would be a disaster, that our customers would never find us.
But when opening day came, the line of traffic looked like a scene from Field of Dreams. Our counters estimated 5,000 people came to the market that day. Traffic was jammed and there was a 45 minute wait just to get into the market parking lot. They found us, all right!
Our draw has grown. Currently about 50% of market-goers drive more than half an hour to get to the market, some from Litchfield or Fairfield county and even out of state. Even in a down economy, most market-goers reported spending more at the market last year. They are voting with their dollars for local food, for our market to succeed. It's wonderful!
Any advice or lessons learned you'd like to pass on to others as they grow the regional food systems in their communities?
There is strength in numbers: We believe our success is rooted in the strength of our committee. We have about a dozen committee members with an extremely diverse skill set. We have retired cops, a farmer, a bank CFO, an event-planner... and we're big on networking to draw in additional support like the 50 or so Friends of the Market who are volunteer workers each summer. We can get a lot done because there are so many of us.
Define your niche: Ours is the market that is known as being "Like a country fair every Sunday." That's our niche and we aim to be the best at that. Every Sunday has a theme related to agriculture: Old fashioned Corn Roast, Garlic and Herb Festival, etc. All events, exhibits, and demonstrations are organized around that theme. It means each Sunday offers not only a full and diverse farmers' market, the state's largest, but also a festival atmosphere with a distinct flavor.
We were pretty creative and maybe even unrealistic when we dreamt up our "destination" market and had a vision for its niche. Taking a step back, Coventry is NOT Ithaca or Brattleboro, and it was pretty ambitious to this we could have a market like those places. Maybe it's a good thing none of us had ever run a farmers' market before!
Move in directions that excite you: We have remained passionate and energized because we choose to grow and evolve in ways that excite us as organizers. For example, each year the committee is presented with loads of great event ideas. We decide which we will choose because an individual member is excited by an event idea and steps forward to take on responsibility for making it happen. This year's June Bug Jamboree, Graze Fest, Autumn Soup Social, and Harvest Pickin' & Bluegrass Jam are all new events whose organizers are really excited to bring them to life. Ideas that have had their day fall by the wayside, while concepts like our new Insider Tours and year long "To Market" photo project come to the forefront.
What struggles still exist as we work to getting more local food onto plates?
Farmers' markets have some of the same struggles that small businesses do. We both need regulations and legislation that nurtures us and supports our growth to allow us to fuel the local economy in a sustainable way. Even successful farmers' markets can be threatened by issues like health department permit fee increases. Several markets in the state are looking at permit fee increases of nearly 1000%. Liability insurance for the market can be costly. Finding and keeping hold of a suitable location is a challenge and site rental fees may rise beyond what a market can afford. Dealing this kind of stuff can wear organizers down and put the future of the market in jeopardy.
Communities need to honor the value of farmers' markets: increasing access to healthy, local foods; sustaining current farmers and growing new ones; keeping farmland open and productive... plus the social aspects of a community gathering, sharing of ideas, increasing foot traffic, positive PR for a town and site. Expect those things from a farmers' market... and support them so they can make it happen.
Coventry Regional Farmer's Market: 2010 Events
All events are free and open to the public!
And CT's LOCAL HEROES who will be at the Coventry Market?
With an average of 45 vendors per day... a full roster of regular vendors plus guest vendors from around the state . . . . . you're sure to find just about anything you could ever possibly need!