Honestly that’s whats great about it ~ it’s getting a bunch of friends together at your booth to sit, talk, and hang out. The vendor’s all support each other and see what kind of cool things others are doing and share ideas. It really is a loving community. We all just want to eat really good food, buy some good crafts, and enjoy our Saturday morning ~ Amanda Coffin Seyler
On August 12th I was fortunate to stop by the Page Lake Powell Farmers Market, held each Saturday in the Page City Park, and interview one of the organizers, Amanda Coffin Seyler. For many years growers and buyers alike have been trying to get a Farmer’s Market going in our area with no success so I was curious as to why this year it was working, and working great!
First Off, The Details:
Where: Page Memorial Park, 600 Block of South Navajo, Page, Arizona 86040
When: Every Saturday from June 1st to the end of September from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (AZ Time)
Cost to sell: $2.00 for the weekend or $25.00 for the summer
Links: Page Farmers Market on Facebook
First question out of the gate “What has been the hold up in the past?”
We had a huge stop gap and it came down to insurance. To find a way to have something done on city property and have it covered because insurance is so expensive. The biggest reason we got off the ground this year because city council agreed to pay for insurance.
The next steps:
Once we had the space we could use it was easier to come up with the rest. Pop up some tents and some promotions from a few local businesses. Boston’s Ace Hardware has been huge, originally giving us rent free tables and chairs so we could get something started. We were then able to purchase tents from sponsorship money from all of our local sponsors. Colorado River Discovery and State 48 are some who really want to see this happen as well as the Chamber of Commerce, which has had a huge impact.
Growers:
That has been our biggest challenge is there are only so many local gardens and not everyone has food all season. That is why we went to the flexible schedule so you can come when you have something to sell. We also have a core group here every weekend and some have large green houses so they sell what they grow out of there . What is nice is we have built this community, and have a group of volunteers, who will sell whatever you have because we really want to see a Farmer’s Market here.
Volunteers:We have Judy Franz and Judy Edwards here every weekend. Fletcher Clouse and Fran Tucker have been here with me from the beginning. Annie Sullivan has been bringing produce up from Flagsaff and Dennis Arp, a long time Flagstaff Beekeeper, has given us an outlet to sell their Mountain Top honey. We are selling the honey at a lower price and putting the proceeds back in to the Farmer’s Market for next year. The Public Health Coordinator, Brian Barg, has been indispensable. Bea Valvo, Jeanne Green, Kathy Spellman ~ we are all volunteers, no one is paid. However, the only way for us to get things for next year, even stakes for the tents, that money has to come from somewhere. We are trying to find some creative ideas to get funds so we don’t have to bang on the doors of all the people in town who are always giving to the different organizations. The Farmer’s Market Committee rotates setting up and tearing down and will start having meetings in October about next year.
Success: 
I think the biggest reason it has happened is 1) Community Support 2) People out the gate offering what they could. If they could not give us money, they were offering us tables and chairs 3) Word of mouth advertising. The amount of people who wanted to display the signs in their business windows was great. It’s just a small thing we have started and it will keep growing every year…… Honestly that’s whats great about it ~ it’s getting a bunch of friends together at your booth to sit, talk, and hang out. The vendor’s all support each and see what kind of cool things others are doing and share ideas. It really is a loving community. We all just want to eat really good food, buy some good crafts and enjoy our Saturday morning.
