Fresh ideas in Ledyard lead to revitalized farmers market

Ledyard — The Ledyard Farmers Market is back, and thriving.

Swaths of people on a recent Wednesday strolled through the fairground, admiring the artisan ice cream, lemonade, soap, jam, bread, cheese on offer, the firetrucks and food trucks, Connecticut signage, the community.

Though organizers say foot traffic has more than doubled since last year, residents remember the possibility of not having a market this summer. When former market master Mark Fields stepped down last year, it was not clear who would take his place.

The more appropriate question

“I have wanted to see a successful farmers market for many years, and it’s just fun to see it grow.” LINDA DAVIS, FARMERS MARKET COMMITTEE LIAISON

turned out to be: How many would take his place?

“I was there when Mark stepped down, and there was just a bunch of people in the room, and it was like magic,” Pam Ball, a member of the market committee and a vendor herself, said. “Somebody’s hand went up and said, ‘I’ll be market master.’ Someone’s hand went up, ‘I’ll be the assistant,’ and all these people — I don’t even remember ever seeing them at the market — they volunteered because they wanted to have a good market in Ledyard.”

Fresh leadership — and more leaders — is the major change that revitalized the market.

The market used to draw about 300 people on a good day, Ball said. Fields thought it could bring in between 400 and 600 people weekly. When he stepped down, Fields recommended having multiple people direct the market.

At the June 7 and June 14 markets, Linda Davis, town councilor and farmers market committee liaison, estimated more than 800 patrons attended. She credits the diversity of opinion and skillset for the market’s increased popularity.

“I have wanted to see a successful farmers market for many years, and it’s just fun to see it grow,” Davis said. “I think it was a lot of work for one person, and you have to have a blend of personality. You need your creative people, you need your rule-follower people, and then you need combinations of each.”

Different people allow for more specialized functions. On the committee there are people who like working with kids, people who like bringing in different entertainment, people who like working with vendors and people who are familiar with the actual farmers of the market.

Ball highlighted these more specific duties in relation to vendors. For example, now, the planning process is so detailed, sellers who don’t like sun on their products can be accommodated, and the two cheese vendors aren’t placed near each other.

As with any group of people, though, disagreements sometimes arise. Ball said that’s part of the market’s current success.

“Everybody has ideas, and everybody’s idea is the best,” Ball said. “Not everybody has the same approach to making the market great but it all works out. We have weekly communication and we have meetings; we’ve got some amazing volunteers. People spend a lot of time on this, and you have to consider that we’re totally revamping it.”

Specific changes

Davis has a utilitarian view of the market’s purpose: “To provide local, fresh food and support local, fresh food, and also to feature local artisans,” she said. “It’s not all food, we do have people that handmake things. We don’t want it to be a flea market, so we try to have a good balance.”

One of the market’s new aspects is its focus on fun for kids, which allows parents to navigate the market more easily. Volunteers set up games, an adjacent playground offers room to rove and the Fire Department has one of its trucks on campus for children to tour.

A distinct theme each week also has brought life to the market, and organizers attempt to tie each theme to children’s activities. Last week’s theme was Multicultural Day; the week before that, it was Dairy. Future themes are National Hotdog Day on July 18 and Health and Wellness on July 25.

Ball and Davis also attribute the increase in popularity to improved marketing, mainly through Facebook. In the past, promotion was done through radio and other venues. This year, though, “we’re on a limited budget, so all Facebook,” Davis said. “It has been working better.”

Davis, who created the wellknown Ledyard Community Forum Facebook group, said Facebook marketing is “my thing.” She’s learned a lot about Facebook from her real estate business.

“It really relates well to a farmers market,” Davis said. “You use what days are best, what times are best to get a good, organic reach.”

Happy vendors

Existing vendors are delighted with the uptick in attendees, and the prosperity of

the market has attracted new vendors. Ball said that she and others are consistently selling out, which is an “amazing problem to have.”

“I probably have two to three times the sales of the first three markets than I had the first three markets last year,” Ball said. “I would say my sales doubled or tripled.”

“From what I’ve gathered in my conversations (among vendors), people are very pleased,” Ball added. “People are selling more than they sold before, people are running out.”

Ball called creating a robust farmers market a Catch-22. With a large number of vendors comes a large number of people, and vice versa. This summer, Ledyard has both. And Davis and Ball hope to expand. The fairground has room for more vendors, who can apply on the market’s website, ledyardfarmersmarket.org.

“We have the entire fairgrounds, so until we have filled the fairgrounds, we’ve got room for people to come with their food or their Connecticut-made crafts,” Ball said.

When asked if market organizers foresee a slowdown after all this growth, Ball replied, “Why would we?”