Farmers Market taking on festive atmosphere

May 12, 2008
by Susan Harrison Wolffis
Muskegon Chronicle

Editor's note: Lori Gomez-Payne, 47, has been the market master for the Muskegon Farmers Market since June 2007. She recently sat down to talk about what to expect at the market this year. The market has been at 700 Yuba since 1962, but there

has been some sort of farm-type market in downtown Muskegon since the 1880s. For more information, call 722-3251.

Q: When is the market open? What are your hours? How long is your season?

A: We open in May; the first weekend in May. We're open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Those are the Farmers Market hours. The Flea Market is open Wednesdays, also from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Flea Market is open from May through October. The Farmers Market is open full time from May through November. In December, we are only open on Saturdays. That's very difficult to get all that on a sign, by the way.

Q: What can people expect to find at the Farmers Market right now?

A: We have lots of plants. We have annuals. We have perennials coming through. Fresh herbs are out and asparagus. It froze two weeks ago, but it's coming now.

Q: What's new at the Farmers Market this year?

A: We have lots of stuff that's new this year, actually. We have an organic meat farmer and a fishmonger. We have ice cream, fudge; a restaurant is going to have a book. Ther's a brand new (Muskegon Area) Chamber of Commerce satellite booth manned by the Muskegon County Master Gardeners. We have inflatables, like kids' Moon Walks, coming out every other weekend. We have face painters and stuff for the children. We also have a brand new reorganized Friends of the Market led by Marsha Irwin.

Q: It sounds like more of a festival, fair, family-event kind of a atmosphere.

A: That's what we're going for. We're going for diversity of product, therefore hoping to get diversity of shoppers. We want to get everyone down here and together and have a whole community thing. Every week, it's here. Every week, it's huge. We're a large market.

Q: Why do people come to the Farmers Market?

A: Well, hopefully, to spend money. That's always a good thing, and to socialize. You can get fresh bread down here and vegetables. It's very healthy. If you come down here for lunch, you can grab a banana, walk around the perimeter twice, and you've walked a mile. You can grab your vegetables, take them home and have a very healthy way of life.

Q: What is the market's mission?

A: We're an organization whose primary mission is to encourage, support and promote the efforts of local, independent and small-scale farmers. That's very, very important to us. We still have many small-scale farmers, and we need to keep them here. We need to make them a success. We want to create the environment of buying fresh, locally produced food, to provide a venue for other local nonprofit organizations and local musicians and to enhance and enrich the community and culture of the city of Muskegon.

Q: What about the market's future?

A: My ultimate goal is that I would like it to be a destination for the city. I would like people to come from out of town to come to our market. We have such a large market. We're here to support local farmers. We also have things that you can't get other places. We're not just a farmers market. We have arts and crafts, music. I see nothing but us growing.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say about the Farmers Market, the Flea Market, the events down here?

A: The Flea Market has kind of gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to the advertisements, but it's one of the most fun things to do. You can clean out your closet, come down, make somebody happy, make a little money and have a social experience like you wouldn't believe down here. I really want to push that a lot this year. It's not like a yard sale. There's food. There's all kinds of fun. The only real danger is that you're going to spend more money than you make and you come home with other stuff, and that's always fun, too.