Farmer's Market
In last night’s work session, Council discussed the formation of a committee to run the existing farmer’s market at the City Hall parking lot.
The City worked with the director of the Park and Planning farmer’s market at Wells Skating Rink, Miller Farms, to start a second farmer’s market in the City on Sunday mornings at City Hall.
This market will be starting up again in April. While having this farmer’s market in place has been a benefit to City residents and the City has gotten positive feedback about it, many residents have expressed interest in establishing a farmer’s market that is more focused on selling local produce.
The existing City Hall market includes vendors that sell food brought in from all over the country, and Miller Farms is not interested in changing that practice. City staff looked into how other cities run their farmer’s markets, and the markets in Greenbelt, Riverdale Park and Takoma Park are all run by volunteer committees, and in some cases administered by a paid staff person.
In order to put the effort into a running a market that sells local produce, the City would need either dedicated volunteers to put a lot of time into it or a paid staff person.
The Council discussed establishing a committee to look into these issues and consider options on how to pursue a farmer’s market more focused on local food vendors.