Solon.
Beef Days, of course, is the biggest, along with high school and youth baseball and softball, and entertainment through the weekly Music on Mainstreet concert series. One tradition that has been absent for a couple of years, a weekly farmers market in Mushroom Park, is attempting to make a comeback. Four vendors were onsite Wednesday, July 8, for the first market in a trial period to determine viability.
Katie Hackert and husband Quinn own Flour Belly Bakery and were selling teas, lemonade, and specialty sourdough breads. Katie spearheaded the effort to bring back the weekly market.
“We’ve lived in Solon for a long time and it’s growing now, there’s a lot more families here, and we think that we could support a farmers market,” she said. “So, we just wanted to amp it back up. It’s been off for a couple of years now, so we asked the City (City Administrator Cami Rasmussen) if we could give it a try to bring it back, and they were very supportive and said yes.”
“We talked to her, let her know what we wanted to sell, why, where we would be setting up because before it was in the parking lot and they closed it off. For several years it was only one vendor, so she said there just wasn’t much of a following and people really weren’t interested in being vendors.”
That lack of participation ultimately led to discontinuing the farmers market, she said.
While green lighting the return of the farmers market, Rasmussen told Hackert the City did not want to use the parking lot for it due to the previous lack of interest and participation. Instead, the vendors set up on the grass near the gazebo.
Tyler and Beth Bird, owners of Silver Maple Farm (located near Solon) brought a variety of fresh produce with carrots piled high on one end of a table. The Birds are frequent participants in a weekly farmers market in Iowa City, and their farm is one of several CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) in the Solon area, which enables consumers to purchase locally grown seasonal food directly from a farmer through “shares (AKA: a subscription or membership),” and receiving a weekly box or bag of items straight from the farm.
“I’m thrilled,” said Tyler at the prospect of weekly farmers markets returning to Solon.
Along with baked goods and vegetables, attendees could also avail themselves of farm fresh eggs courtesy of young Sawyer Frazier.
When asked what led him to sell at the farmers market, he shrugged and said, ““It’s a local area where I might find people that are interested in buying them,” and added, “we’ve had people tell us store (bought) eggs aren’t as good.”
Frazier and Spartan Forge 3D also brought a touch of the contemporary technology to the market in the form of 3-D printed toys, fidget spinners, and other trinkets.
Cole, with Spartan Forge 3D, saw Katie Hackert’s Facebook post about the farmers market and reached out to her to be a part of the event.
“It’s been a bigger turnout than I expected,” he said of the crowd. “I really didn’t know what to expect with it being such short notice.” As for the future of the market, Cole said, “If it’s here, I’ll be here.”
For Michele Machula, who moved to Solon about a year ago, last week’s even was her first Solon farmers market, and it did not disappoint.
“I saw in Facebook, somebody said they were going to be selling teas and sourdough bread. I retired recently and bought a condo right downtown here, and so I’d love to see the town reinvigorated and have things like this. So, I’m super pumped. I’ll be here to support every week if you keep coming by,” she said to Hackert. “It’s unbelievable!”
After getting word out regarding the first market via social media postings, Hackert said she has received several inquiries about joining the next market, scheduled for Wednesday, July 22.
“I think that in the next few weeks we’ll have more vendors and I’m really hopeful that it’ll be a positive sign and that next year we can have a full-on farmers market, and its advertised; people actually know about it other than from one Facebook post.”
Hackert said she was hopeful that at least a dozen people would come by, “…so we’d have something to show for it. This is way more than what we expected and I’m really, really excited about it.”
To become a vendor contact City Administrator Cami Rasmussen at City Hall (100 Cedar St.).
“She said that she’s OK with people doing a ‘trial week,’ and after that, if they like it, if it goes well, they can apply and pay a $5/week fee,” Hackert said.