After collecting
$2,750 from local donors, the Bedford Farmers' Market is set to open
for business July 23 at 3 p.m. on Riley Field.
Deb Sklar, a member
of Bedford's planning board, created the idea for a farmers' market
and gathered five volunteers to help her idea bear fruit, and other
produce, every Tuesday afternoon through October.
"It's been
more work than I ever thought," Sklar said. "But we're lucky
to have such a great group of people working on the steering committee."
The money from
donations will go mostly to newspaper advertising and creating posters.
Sklar said that the market's marketing has generated positive response.
"Just this
morning I was in E&R Cleaners hanging a poster," Sklar said
last week. "Some woman saw the poster and seemed really excited.
. . That makes all the effort more pleasurable."
The donations,
including $1,000 from Centrix Bank and $1,000 from Bedford Ambulatory
Surgical Center, will also fund the attractions Sklar hopes to bring
to th emarket. Opening day will feature two Shetland ponies, and Sklar
intends later marktes to host an a cappella singing group, clowns, and
a cooking demonstration.
Sklar said that
she hopes to have 13 vendors on opening day, including seven farmers,
and sellers of jams, pies, salsa, coffee beans, and hand-made soaps.
The farmers will
offer seasonal produce, with tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and corn in
the summer, and apples, pumpkins and mums in the fall.
To keep a local
flavor in the market, Sklar said that all of the vendors she invited
grow or make their wares in New Hampshire.
This
story ran on page 1 of the Bedford Journal 7/11/2002.
©
Copyright 2002 Cabinet Press.m
