New Canaan Farmers Market finds a new home

NEW CANAAN — The New Canaan Farmers Market will be moved to Elm Street’s lumberyard parking lot across from Karl Chevrolet. The market’s previous home was the Center School parking lot.

The market is being relocated because the Center School Lot is being used for free parking for merchants and it is expected to be impacted by construction of the proposed new New Canaan library.

The market will be open Saturday, May 8, through November, from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with nearly 40 vendors, after a unanimous vote by the Board of Selectman on Tuesday, April 6.

Attendees will be able to park in a single spot for both shopping in town and browsing at the Farmers’ Market, Administrative Officer Tucker Murphy said during the presentation at the selectman’s meeting.

There will be approximately 140 on-site parking spaces, according to the PowerPoint presentation at the meeting.

“Everybody has given it their blessing,” Murphy said.

“The Farmers Market had always been a valuable asset to the town,” Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce Larua Budd told Hearst Connecticut Media. “The Lumberyard Lot is an ideal spot for the vendors and shoppers alike.”

Patricia Spugani and Lexi Gazi spoke on behalf of the market and discussed the PowerPoint that listed 38 vendors. Among them were listed Metrocrops, Goatboy, Michele’s Pies and Wonderland Jam.

Dogs will not be allowed at the Farmers’ Market grounds because of state health guidelines, the organizers said.

Murphy will be in charge of advertising and she plans to have signs to announce the new location posted near the Center School Lot, lumberyard lot entrance and maybe at the corner of South Avenue and Farm Road.

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan asked if vendors are allowed to leave before 2 p.m., because he has safety concerns.

“I discourage it,” Gazi said, and she also discourages vendors coming after the market has already opened for the day.

The organizers have asked the town to mark handicap accessible parking, fill large potholes and provide electric outlets to reduce the need for vendors to use the generators.

The town has given permission for workers at the market to use the restroom at the New Canaan Train Station.

Jarret Liotta / For Hearst Connecticut Media file photos Patsy Semple, of New Canaan, looks over a selection of tomatoes at the New Canaan Farmers Market. Below, Adam Tomsky, 5, of New Canaan, picks out corn at the New Canaan Farmers Market in August 2017.