Farmers markets overcoming sour grapes

A farmers market just a few months old already has produced a bounty of vendors rivaling the outdoor market that has served Springfield for three decades.

However, officials at the established Greater Springfield Farmers Market say business hasn’t fallen off despite a contentious move of locking out members who joined the upstart Farmers Market of the Ozarks.

Green developer Matt O’Reilly is behind the fledgling market, which serves as the centerpiece of his $24 million mixed-use Farmers Park planned community. Farmers Market of the Ozarks opened April 7 on the East Republic Road grounds – between Hilton Garden Inn and Houlihan’s restaurant – to some 6,000 shoppers. On May 12, roughly 75 of the 88 vendors signed on had set up shop.

Behind the scenes, longtime farmers market vendors have had to choose between chasing the foot traffic or staying put. In January, board members for the 34-year-old Greater Springfield Farmers Market that operates in the Battlefield Mall parking lot voted to add a noncompete clause, forcing vendors to make a choice.

Greater Springfield Farmers Market President Steve Madewell of Mount Vernon-based Madewell Meats LLC said the organization quickly lost as many 15 vendors, including Fassnight Creek Farms and Millsap Farms. The veteran group has since recovered, he said, and now comprises 90 vendors, roughly equal the number this time last year.

“As a vendor, I can’t tell any difference at all from what it used to be,” said Madewell, who has been selling his meat products outside the mall for roughly six years. “They haven’t hurt our market. Springfield is big enough for another market.”

He acknowledged that the noncompete agreement was not a popular decision, but he saw it as a necessary way to protect the market, which continues to emphasize 100 percent locally produced food.

“We never kicked anybody out. They had a choice to make and they chose not to come back – and that’s fine,” Madewell said.

Highlandville-based Ozark Mountain Orchard and Springfield-based Fassnight Creek Farms are among the vendors that pursued the new venture.

Fassnight Creek owner Dan Bigbee said he left Greater Springfield Farmers Market after 30 years as a direct result of the noncompete.

Bigbee said his wife, Kelly, and her handmade soaps and candles company, Flower Child, was one of the first to join FMO due to the promise of a permanent pavilion. Dan Bigbee said even though he wanted to continue selling Fassnight Creek products at the mall site, the noncompete agreement wouldn’t allow family members of vendors to sell at a market within a five-mile radius operating during the same hours.

“They turned a dues-paying, every-Saturday-attending vendor that would speak for them on KY3 and promote their market into competition. That’s what they did,” Bigbee said.

O’Reilly reacted to news of the noncompete proposal by offering refunds to Greater Springfield Farmers Market vendors who signed on early with FMO, but he said none of the vendors took his offer. He said FMO vendors can participate in any market.

“I think our competitors are Wal-Mart and places where people eat unhealthy – fast food,” O’Reilly said, adding the market has doubled his first-year vendor expectations. “If we win those people over, there are more than enough customers to go around.”

Vendors at FMO rent for $350 per year the first year, and membership in the second year and beyond would be tied to an annual fee and 3 percent of sales, O’Reilly said. Market Manager Lane McConnell said the initial fee structure was important in building a base of vendors.

“We made it really affordable for producers because we knew we were the new kid on the block,” McConnell said, noting the organization is currently seeking nonprofit status.

To date, O’Reilly said he has spent around $75,000 on tables, tents and infrastructure to help generate interest for FMO, which is averaging more than 4,300 visitors to its Saturday markets, according to McConnell.

On May 12 before 10 a.m., Ozark Mountain Orchard had sold out of the 30 baskets of strawberries and eight baskets of blueberries co-owner Krystal Lais brought to FMO. The activity in the new market netted $1,400.

“I brought as much as I could,” Lais said, adding that she moved to FMO due to the potential for a permanent pavilion to sell under.

O’Reilly said Farmers Market of the Ozarks keeps a product matrix to ensure it doesn’t have too much of any one type of vendor. Right now, for example, it is maxed out at about 10 meat vendors.

“You kind of have to think of it as a grocery store, and you wouldn’t have your meat section be half your store,” O’Reilly said.

One of the differences between the markets is that FMO allows supplementing, which means that nonlocal food can be brought in to allow for greater variety and insulate against local loses. For example, if local peach crops are wiped out due to drought, a vendor can apply to bring in peaches from another area that was not impacted. This month, Gulf Coast shrimp was on hand through Big Pop’s Louisiana Gulf Seafood to offer greater product variety, O’Reilly said.

“We do a little bit of manipulation in that regard, but it is really to protect the vendors,” said O’Reilly, whose Farmers Park development is designed to promote a sustainable lifestyle, with one-third retail, one-third office and one-third residential.

At Greater Springfield Farmers Market, Madewell said vendor rates are $125 a year to sign up and $10 for setting up on Tuesday or Thursday, and $20 on Saturday. Manager Brad Gray said he thinks FMO’s marketing efforts have helped drive business to the long-established market by increasing interest and awareness in local farmers markets.

“If anything, they’ve had a positive impact on us,” Gray said, pointing to a 60 percent increase in credit and debit transaction this year compared to last.

The buzz about farmers markets is spreading up north, too, to Commercial Street. C-Street Market Manager Elonzo King said business among its 16 vendors this year is equal to or slightly better than the same time in 2011.

“The new market has generated quite a bit of hub-bub,” King said.

Bryan Tibbs, a Mercy trauma surgeon, visited FMO on May 12.

“It’s my first time here, and the variety of vendors is exceptional,” Tibbs said, adding that the live music helped to give it a West Coast feel but that he shopped both markets. “It’s good to have options.”[[In-content Ad]]