Bella Vista Farmers market heading into fall season soon
Vendors sit and stand under tents, hoping the breeze keeps up while potential customers browse the goods on display — baked goods, canine supplies, handmade soaps, woodwork, fresh meats, knife sharpening services, coffee, lemonade and, of course, fresh veggies.
The Bella Vista Farmers market is heading into the fall season, which market manager Samantha Mosher said officially starts the second week in September.
It was a little slow throughout the summer, she said, but now that school is back in session, she’s seeing business pick back up.
Mosher said the market is worth checking out regularly because there’s often something new. A recent trend has been a collaboration between vendors — a baker making zucchini bread with a farmer’s vegetables, for instance — which has resulted in a lot of new products on vendors’ tables.
“We’ve gotten a lot of product mixing … which is amazing. The support among each other is great,” she said.
Sept. 16 will be a kids day, she said, with fire and police personnel on scene, as well as entertainment options geared toward kids.
Entertainment is also frequently onsite, she said, including musicians like Samantha Hunt and others. New this year is Alexander Silver, Mosher explained, a storyteller who showed up on a rainy day a few weeks back and entertained the vendors and guests so much she had to invite
him back.
Silver explained that his mundane name is Dennis Plummer and he’s been performing with renaissance fairs for years, including the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival in Muskogee, Okla., and he’s recorded a CD including some of his stories — which he explained are traditionally told and not written down.
Plummer said he heard about the market from a friend and came by to show off his act. He appreciated being invited back, he said.
“The local audience is fun; the vendors are fun to play with,” he said.
One vendor, Chuck Gunther, sells handcrafted wood items, including cheese slicers, wine glass holders, cutting boards and phone holders. The pieces are finished with a homemade butter, he said, that’s made with food grade mineral oil and beeswax to ensure it is safe to use with food.
He’s been working with wood for most of his life, he said, after spending summers learning from his grandfather.
It’s his first year at the market, he explained, and resulted in part from his wife, Dale Gunther, suggesting he sell some of his work.
The designs are mostly his own, though he takes some inspiration from work he sees in magazines.
“I try to put my own twist on them,” he said.
Bella Vista resident Tracy Young headed out of the market with a bag full of veggies in one hand and a cup in the other.
It was her first time at the market, she said, but she fully intends to come back the next Sunday.
“Everything’s so fresh,” Young said. “I ended up with some red and green tomatoes, jalapenos and the best lemonade ever.”