Rochester

Farmers Market grows as more catch on to buying local, vendors say

By Erin McClary
C & G Staff Writer

ROCHESTER — Local farmers are preparing to set up shop in downtown Rochester for the city’s open-air Farmers Market at the corner of East Third and Water. The market will run from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday, beginning with its opening day May 1, until the last weekend in October.

Nancy Voges, marketing coordinator for the Rochester Downtown Development Authority and manager of the Rochester Farmers Market, said the market typically draws about 1,000 people each weekend. So far, she added, there are 32 vendors signed up to sell this season.

Shortly after opening day, the DDA will post all the participating vendors’ profiles on its Web site and list the details of “Event Saturdays,” which take place the first Saturday of each month at the market.

This will be Rochester’s 11th year offering a farmers market. “We are a full market with a nice, diverse assortment of vendors,” Voges said. “We have many of the same vendors that we had 11 years ago, but at the same time, we’ve added new vendors. We’re always trying to keep a good mix.”

Unlike other markets, Rochester’s is pet-friendly, Voges said. Aside from organic dairy products, fresh produce and locally made niche items, the market also features a dog station and Michigan vendors that cater specifically to pets.

As far as the number of people who come through the market each Saturday while it’s in season, Voges said, the Farmers Market is one Rochester community service that’s grown every year. Bob Koenders, owner of the Backyard Bouquet Farm in Armada, said that’s because more and more people are catching on to the benefits of buying local.

“Now that the farmers market movement has become popular, I suspect business will pick up,” he said. “The Rochester farm market, I think, is doing well.”

Koenders, an agronomist who’s been participating in the Rochester Farmers Market for 10 years now, is known at the market for his fresh-cut flowers — specifically sunflowers and alliums, Voges said — as well as his very own “Bob’s Designer Pumpkins” seed, a hybrid of pumpkin and winter squash.

He said his designer pumpkin crop happened by chance about a decade ago, when he stumbled upon a couple of plants growing in a ditch that abuts his farm. Normally, he said, he’d destroy the misfits in fear that they’d carry a disease that could harm his crop. But these resembled pumpkins, and he decided to let them grow.

“These plants were growing in this ditch, and as the fruit began to appear, they were unlike any plant I’ve ever seen before,” said Koenders, who’s been growing pumpkins for 20 years.

It wasn’t long before he deliberately started growing the new crop. While the seeds are already available for purchase online, he’s hoping Bob’s Designer Pumpkins will eventually become a staple at the Rochester Farmers Market.

Voges said there are a variety of newer vendors this year who are either returning from their first go last year or are brand-new to Rochester’s market altogether. “Kenzoil,” an extra virgin olive oil with herbs, was a new specialty product at last year’s market and will be returning this year.

Old English Toffee, a vendor that specializes in homemade toffee, will be new to the market this year, along with a vendor selling organic bath products and soaps.

“We try to select someone for the market that enhances the mix,” she said. “As long as it’s a Michigan-grown product or produce, they’re welcome.” Right now, there is a vendor reserve list, where vendors can sign up to participate in the market on days there is available space.

Also new at this year’s market will be one of Rochester’s newer businesses, Georgio’s Pizza, which will be offering breakfast calzones and other specialty treats each Saturday.

Voges was also pleased to announce that Raub-Rae Farms of Brown City would be returning to the Rochester Farmers Market this year. Raub-Rae, which was certified organic in the early ’90s, was one of the area’s first Organic Crop Improvement Association OCIA farms, and one of the oldest operating, family-owned farms in the state.

Yvonne Osborne, one of Raub-Rae’s owners, said her family’s farm received a centennial designation from the Michigan Historic Society last year. This is their fourth year participating in the Rochester Farmers Market.

“We stay pretty busy,” she said of business in Rochester. “But our business there has gradually increased as people become more familiar with eating organic and buying local. We’re one of the vendors there every week, and people come to count on our presence.”

Raub-Rae is known at the market for its organic veggies, eggs, chicken and beef. “And we’re one of the few that are certified organic.”

Osborne said they’ve added 120 hens to the family farm this year to prevent running out of eggs at the market, which has typically been a problem in past years. She was also excited to announce that this past fall, the family installed a greenhouse to assure they’d have certain produce earlier than before.

“The same vendors are returning each year. … If they weren’t doing good, they wouldn’t,” Koenders said. “We all see the future potential in (the farmers market movement) growing.”

The first 500 people to come through the Rochester Farmers Market on opening day May 1 will receive a free tote bag.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Erin McClary at emcclary@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1118.