Westminster Farmers' Market

  I've put off this post for some time. We were unsuccessful in our request for an FMPP Grant from USDA-AMS. The main part of the request was for an EBT (electronic benefit transfer) machine. An EBT machine would enable us to take SNAPP (food stamps), credit cards, debit cards, and ATM transactions, at the Westminster Farmers' Market. There was only one award in the state of Massachusetts.

 The state Department of Agricultural Resources is offering an EBT grant program. We plan on applying for this program. If we are unsuccessful, we will do it the old fashioned way, DIY. 

  Check out this link to see who got what in your state. Congratulations to the Rochester N.Y. Public Market. But $ 100,000 for a trolley system to cart people to and from the parking lot? Really, it's not sour grapes; it's just that our customers walk.

  Central Massachusetts usually has the lowest energy and food expenses in the state, but this is surprising.

 This article, from The North Central Massachusetts Economic Development Council, confirms what I have long believed; that an area that has small and medium sized independent small businesses, will benefit from lower consumer prices.

  Central Massachusetts and Worcester County have been strong holds of "mom and pop" businesses. Competition is a benefit of a capitalist economy. Everyone benefits from healthy competition. Businesses have to keep on their toes and provide better service at a lower cost than the shop down the road. The consumer is the big winner.

  Just another good reason to buy local.

  The Pumpkin Festival scheduled for this Friday, October 16, has been postponed until next Friday, October 23. We had to postpone due to the forecast of an abnormally early New England Nor'Easter.

  Current forecasts call for between a dusting and one inch of snow. Not much of a snow storm, but not very nice for the children to be decorating pumpkins in either.

  The Westminster Farmers' Market will attempt to open, unless the weather gets to darn severe. You know we are a rain or shine market. It is yet to be seen if we are a snow market also. It may be a good dry run (?) for the holiday markets we are planing.

Westminster Farmers’ Market Pumpkin Festival! The Westminster Farmers’ Market will be hosting a Pumpkin Festival this Friday, October 16^th with a rain date of October 23^rd. 

 Stop by for some fun, pumpkin decorating, chowder, coffee, donuts, hay rides, entertainment, face painting and more fun.  Prizes will be awarded to elementary age students for pumpkin decorating. Vendors will be selling a variety of local products including: 

Vegetables, Fruit, Beef, Pork, Eggs, Jams, Cheese, Bread, Baked Goods, Fudge and Confections.  And for your Holiday shopping pleasure: you will find hand crafted cutting boards, birdhouses, hats and purses, art tiles and earrings, soaps and lotions/hand-creams, hand painted tin pieces including mailboxes and antique reproductions, ornaments, quilted items and tote bags.

The Westminster Farmers’ Market is open every Friday from 3:00 p.m. until dusk on Academy Hill Rd in Westminster.  This market will run rain or shine from now until October 30^th.

 I have listed our farmers' market on "going boston", a social network for venues and events in the Boston area. This should give our market some exposure to a younger urban population, that isn't really represented yet. If you can, go to this site, (you may have to register first), please click on that you like our market, and leave some positive comments. This will hopefully create some "buzz", and get a new group attending the market.

Report of the Westminster 250th Parade from the Worcester Telegram

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090928/NEWS/909280353/1101

Report from the Fitchburg Sentinel is here:

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_13436797

 I will post photos of the Westminster AgCom floats and tractor fleet later.

  Today is the big parade celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Westminster Massachusetts. The parade has three divisions, with over one hundred groups participating. Our Agricultural Commission has three floats, seven tractors (with implements), and a half dozen marchers.

  The first float is The Mass Local Food Coop. Their theme is "from our farms to your fork". It is a dollhouse sized barn with farm animals and equipment. This scene is decorated with plants and trees. It is on my 1950 Chevy one ton platform dump truck. This truck was purchased new by my grandfather Hjalmer Johnson in 1950. It was used for years on our farm, hauling shavings, live poultry, eggs, and manure (not all at the same time). This will be the third anniversary parade this truck has been in. A youth group staged a sock hop on it in 1959, for The Town's 200th Anniversary Parade. My farm  (Johnson & Sons Poultry Farm, Inc.)  used it as our float in 1984, for the 225th Anniversary Parade.

  The next float is our farmers' market reenactment. Marsha Foster and Cathy Magane will be riding this float that is a mock up of our Westminster Farmers' Market. It is full of colorful produce; white and brown eggs, pumpkins, gourds, red potatoes, corn shocks, butternut squash, summer squash, acorn squash, zucchini, etc. all displayed on bales of hay and a table under a market umbrella.

  The last float has some of our most frequent market performers. Sue Nickerson will be playing her fiddle, accompanied by her husband Steve, on Guitar. As the music plays, Lauren Denen will be step dancing.

  The tractors will be between floats. The walkers will be carrying a banner out front; "Westminster Agricultural Commission". Other walkers will be handing out fliers for the pumpkinfest, with Mass Local Food Coop and a free raffle ticket ( for food baskets) on the reverse side.

  As you can see we have all put a lot of time and effort into this event. The weather was near perfect yesterday when we assembled the floats. All the floats were either parked under cover or covered with tarps. It is raining now as I write this.

  The weather forecast calls for 100% chance of rain, up to 3/4" total rainfall today. Possible thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon between 2 PM and 5PM. The parade starts at 1PM. We are the 15th group in the 3rd division. By the time we march it will probably be near 3:00.

  Please say a prayer that the weather is not too severe for the marchers or spectators.

   Thanks

  This Seattle area couple visited visted our Westminster MA farmers market three weeks ago. I stumbled upon their local eating blog while doing a websearch of our market.

http://www.cooklocal.com/?p=1828&cpage=1#comment-1574

  They wrote a very nice review, even though their locavore area is almost 3000 miles away!

  Thanks Patricia and John! I hope we have better weather the next time you visit us.

 

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  On September 27, 2009, 1 PM The Town of Westminster will be holding it's 250th Anniversary Parade. The Westminster AgCom is planning on having two floats and a half dozen tractors with implements in the parade.

  We plan on having a reenactment of our farmers' market on one of the floats, complete with vendors, pavilion tents, produce, flowers, and maybe customers. 

  There is going to be a lot of effort going into this the next couple of weeks. We have a great core of people both in The AgCom and our volunteer "Friends of Agriculture."  We still have a need for more volunteers; handing out flyers for the Pumpkin Fest, marching with banners, contructing/decorating floats.

   I'll keep you posted as we proceed with our plans.

  We had a good turnout at The Westminster Farmer's Market on a rainy Friday afternoon. Eighteen venders set up even though it poured during the first hour. Customers showed up with umbrellas. The rain stopped after 4 PM, and the customer flow picked up.

  All in all it was a good turn out for a rainy day. We are definitely a rain or shine market!

 If not for the weather, every thing went off without a hitch for our first anniversary celebration Friday. We did get in three good hours, though. Temps were in the high eighties with high humidity, moderated by a nice breeze. Our market manager, Al Magane kept an eye on the skies. There was a tornado watch twenty miles to our west, moving our way. The first two storms missed us, moving to our north and then to our south. Al had the vendors pack it in when lighting was seen to our west. Just as the last of twenty-four canopies and tables with product were packed into vehicles, the skies opened up. I mean it poured buckets! The timing couldn't have been better if it were staged. I checked the time as we were leaving; 6:15, we only missed forty-five minutes of a great afternoon.

Westminster Farmers’ Market Celebrates One Year in Operation!

 The Westminster Farmers’ Market will be holding a Birthday Celebration to celebrate opening one year ago.  There will be birthday cake made with fresh local ingredients and entertainers including a troupe of Irish Step Dancers at 5:00 p.m.!  Come enjoy the festivities and atmosphere!

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 Thank you to Emily Devlin of The Sentinel for writing a very nice piece on The Westminster Farmer's Market. This should really help in the promotion of our market. It's grown so much already this year!

 Here is a quote from Emily and the link to the article:

"In its second year of operation, the Farmers Market has tripled in size, growing from just five or six vendors during its first season in 2008, to at least 24 each week this year."

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/local/ci_13134769

 Keith Harding of the local cable access TV station, channel 8, was in attendance at the market on Friday. He was there with a camera person doing interviews with venders and consumers for most of the afternoon. He even got footage of an impromptu step dance done by a little girl. This girl danced as Sue Nickerson played fiddle and her husband Steve, accompanied on guitar. Next week the girl's mother will be bringing the whole group of step dancers to perform at 5PM.

 Westminster Farmer's Market; "Be there or be square."