Wet spring won't dampen commerce at Salt Lake's Downtown Farmers Market

SALT LAKE CITY — Cool, damp — not to mention dreary — weather has kept early produce in northern Utah in the ground and farmers out of the fields, but that's no reason to postpone what organizers say will be a bigger, better Downtown Farmers Market from opening.

This coming Saturday, June 12, the 2010 market opens for its 18th season of commerce in Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park. This year might start with fewer fruits and vegetables, but organizers are expecting the usual bumper crop of all kinds of small-farm produce and all manner of arts and crafts and what-not to buy.

This year's market is bigger, and not just in the number of vendors, which is expected to be around 350 to 400. It also will take the whole of Pioneer Park, rather than just sections.

Last year, the market averaged more than 10,000 shoppers per Saturday, market manager Kim Angeli-Selin said Friday.

Along with more room for shoppers and vendors, this year's market will include more on-site cooking, and it will be located in a food fairway from the center of the park to the perimeter. Angeli-Selin said that will keep any fire hazards to a minimum for vendors and make cooked food access more convenient for shoppers.

The market features unique items ranging in type from lodge-pole bedroom sets to five-gallon bags of caramel corn, which some regular attendees last year considered a staple of the family's diet.

One grower, Robert Black from near Brigham City, said the market draws him each year because he can make a little money on the "killer onions" he grows specially for the event. "Better than Vidalias if you ask me," he said.

The best thing about the market is that people actually interact, even chat with each other, and "they're not just trying to do 12 things at once or rush off to be somewhere else," Black said. "People more often than not get more than they pay for, and they can mosey — pretty much a lost art these days."

Although the market has, in ways, proved recession-immune, the city's revenue shortfall and intention of doing what it can to make up the difference means vendors will see higher fees this season.

Farmers/growers will pay $225, or about $30 more than last year. Food vendors will be charged 10 percent of their sales, and art/crafts sellers will pay $500, or $100 more than their fee last season.

A preview party and fundraiser for the market is scheduled Monday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Squatters Pub Brewery, 147 W. Broadway (300 South). Growers and other vendors will be on hand, and there will be live music. Tickets are required and can be purchased at www.slcfarmersmarket.org.

The market itself will run from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Saturday, June 12-Oct. 16. A weekday market will run from 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, Aug. 3-Oct. 12.

e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com