Saturday marked the 40th celebration of the Emporia Farmers Market. The celebration included a watermelon game for children and took place during its regular hours of 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
“It’s a good place for the community to gather and we have lots of local produce, so when COVID hit and people struggled to buy groceries, we were another option where they could find produce and they could find meat,” Wanda Myers, Farmers Market Board Chairman said. “It brings the community together, we have customers who come more for the social aspect than to actually buy. Come and see their friends and visit them. It’s a good way to bring farmers and city dwellers together.
If you can receive fresh products such as homemade jams, pastries and local products, you can also find clothing, accessories and household items. However, it also provides a chance for the community to gather and socialize with each other.
“I consider being a market seller as my social outlet,” Robert ‘Bob’ Karr said. “I don’t go to parties, I don’t belong to a lot of clubs, it’s a way to socialize with all kinds of people. I love them all. It’s a good feeling to put good fresh food between the hands of all kinds of people. Not only the elderly who are used to it, but also young people with families and children. It’s a good feeling for me to introduce them to real fresh food.
During the summer, there are usually about 20 vendors attending the market each week, Myers said. Some vendors have been attending the market year-round for many years, such as Bob Karr who brings fresh produce from The Orchard located just outside of town. It has been involved in the market since the 80s.
“We really depend on good clientele,” Karr said. “Regular customers or anyone who stops by our stall or walks through the market is considered a friend of the market. Customers are actually the people we depend on.
The market also encourages newcomers to participate in the sale of products or to come and discuss and buy products. Rebekah, Kim and Luke DeWeese are a family of vendors who just joined this year and said their favorite part of being at the market is the sense of accomplishment you get from coming to and even just chatting with new people.
“We appreciated having people come,” Kim DeWeese said. “We get people who come regularly like we have a lady who comes every week with a little boy, he always wants a suction cup but they always smile and we visit him every week. There is a lady from Nigeria who came and so we have people from outside the country who come to visit and get to know them. It was funny.”
What makes this market unique from others are the people and the fact that it is a year round market. Part of the year the market is held at Merchant St, then moves to Waters Hardware. It’s also one of the first markets to operate year-round here in Kansas, Myers said.
The non-profit association that runs the market helps generate revenue for the town. Last June, they made over $10,000 on the market. The organization takes care of the sales tax so that sellers and customers don’t have to fight over what to charge. In return, they charge a fee to sellers to help cover sales tax costs.
Rebekah DeWeese said a big part of why she wanted to join the market was because she was helping build a business base.
“I had been eyeing [the market] for a long time because a lot of things over there are things I do and I was like you know, I do all of those things and it just stays here,” Rebekah DeWeese said. “And people would say ‘that’s cool if you ever try to sell it, let me know. So why not try, as a youngster, to create a business base and I told my parents about it. So I thought, if I’m going to do it, you might as well join in and so I dragged my parents and then I drugged my brother.
For more information on the Farmers Market, visit the vendors every Wednesday and Saturday or visit their website at https://www.emporiafarmersmarket.org/home. The market is also held on Wednesday evenings from 5-7 p.m. between the 700 block and the 800 block of Merchant St.
