Locals foods are aplenty at the College Park Farmer’s Market held just off route one every Sunday from 10am to 2pm.
The return of students at the end of August marks the beginning of a new semester, and vendors at the Downtown College Park Farmers Market said they are looking forward to a boost in sales.
Live guitar music set the scene for the farmers market Sunday afternoon as local residents and students shopped for fresh produce and baked goods. After a slump in business throughout the past few months, local vendors said they were excited for a rush of students hoping to find an alternative to campus dining.
“[The summer] gave us a chance to work on growing the resident base, which happened — we felt it pick up over the summer,” said Kelly Morris, market master and president of KSM Marketing & Events. “We’re just glad to add the students on top of that.”
On Sunday, a line of customers, most of them students, snaked through the
city hall parking lot to pick up pulled pork and other meats from Bill’s Backyard BBQ. More than half of the business’s customers tend to be area students, owner Bill Coleman said between greeting returning students and chatting with other vendors. Since launching Bill’s Backyard BBQ 11 years ago, Coleman, a College Park resident, said he has developed loyal student customers through catering for Greek life and spending three years with the farmers market.
The slower summer has been hard on Grandma Vera’s Bakery, a first-year vendor that sells fresh-squeezed orange juice and an array of pastries, including scones. But owner Nate Port said the fall looks promising for his bakery and the farmers market.
“The students are the most enthusiastic customers ever, coming here in their pajamas,” Port said. “Coming to the market when school is out is still worth it. We stuck around, but we were really looking forward to this weekend.”
The farmers market is one way city officials hope to increase business in the summer, when businesses throughout College Park “feel the pain” of fewer customers, said Robert Day, District 3 city councilman.
“We as a council — and the business community — need to figure out a way to bring the residents back to Downtown College Park when the students go home,” Day said.
In May, the market reopened under Morris, whom the city hired to help increase revenue and the number of vendors. The market operates with eight vendors but could have up to 12 this fall, Morris said.
Because the new market master’s contract was for only one year, city council members will look at the farmers market’s success when it closes for the season on Nov. 17, said Michael Stiefvater, College Park’s economic development coordinator. In the meantime, the farmers market will have special events each Sunday this month to attract students and bring in more business.
“It’s been a lot more organized, and it seems like people have enjoyed it a lot,” Stiefvater said.
Located within walking distance of the campus, the farmers market provides a convenient alternative to the nearest grocery stores, said Sandeep Pandey, a senior chemical engineering major who doesn’t have a car. He and Elaine Nghiem, a senior business major, often come for produce such as broccoli and peppers and walk away with homemade doughnuts and scones.
It’s also a chance to experiment with unique produce, said Jenn Eisenberg, a junior communication major, who tasted the yellow watermelon as she walked around the market with her friends.
“We go because the prices are cheaper and the food is better quality,” Eisenberg said. “I was telling my roommates that we should try to come back and make stir-fry with the vegetables.”
