Belleville Farmers’ Market lacking customers

Sandy Vader is one of the vendors at the Belleville Farmers’ Market, where she sells her homemade jams. She says the vendors are waiting to see if business picks up later in the summer. Photo by Tara Henley

By Tara Henley

BELLEVILLE – The Belleville Farmers’ Market is in a “downhill spiral” due to the lack of customers as well as vendors, many kiosk owners say.

However, the manager of the market says she predicts it is only off to a bit of a slow season, and that it will still be around for many years to come.

Peter Paylor sells his handmade jewelry and art at the farmers’ market and he says business these past three years has done nothing but slow down.

“Two years ago we had a very severe drought in the summer. That means there was less produce available,” Paylor said. “That coincided with the Memorial (Arena, next door to the market) closing and we lost a lot of business. Things have been spiraling since then.”

Venders like Paylor rely on the income they generate from selling their goods at the farmers’ market.

“We create our own stuff and sell it and that’s our food and shelter right there,” he said. “We walk here. We bundle everything into a cart and walk it up and down a hill each day. It’s hard walking up a hill at the end of the day carrying all your goods if you haven’t sold anything.”

These past few seasons have been so rough on Paylor’s business that he said this year may be his final one at the market.

City Councillor Jack Miller says he believes it is up to the vendors to make the market popular.

“The city provides the space and the vendors provide the customers,” he said. “If things don’t go well, the future [of the farmers’ market] could be in question.”

Market manager Jackie Tapp disagrees.

“We’ll still be here 50 years from now,” she said. The lack of vendors as well as the slow start to the produce season is the cause for the near-empty market, she added. “I don’t think (a slow season) is showing doomsday for the market.”

The summer season is usually the busiest time of year for vendors. However, because of the hard winter, crops came out especially late this year.

“Winter had a huge effect on the produce,” says Sandy Vader, who sells her fresh produce at the market and has been downsizing her business recently. “Times are changing. People used to come to the market and buy volumes to freeze, and people don’t do that anymore.”

Paylor said he thinks one of the reasons fewer people are shopping at the market is the lack of vendors.

“The fewer vendors here, the fewer customers we get. The fewer customers we get, the less the vendors will want to show up,” he said. “This is our social network right here, the old-fashioned kind, and we’re seeing the same faces over and over again.”

Sharon Smits, a first-year vendor selling handmade soaps at the market, couldn’t agree more.

“It’s like a circle,” she said. “The vendor thinks there’s not going to be anyone here so he doesn’t come. Then the customer drives by and sees there’s no vendors out.”

The Belleville Farmers’ Market has been around for almost 200 years. The market includes locally grown and harvested food, handmade art, jewelry and soaps. It is located beside City Hall and runs three mornings a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Produce-seller Vader says the market association is discussing the issue of the lack of customers, but all the vendors can really do for now is wait to see if business picks up in the later summer months, when more produce is available.

Smits agreed. “We’re hoping more people come out once more strawberries and asparagus get here,” she said. “We do have a community here, and everybody is so nice, and the customers are awesome. All we can really do is give them our presence – something that reminds people we’re still here.”