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Date: 5/31/2023
SOUTH HADLEY — The South Hadley Farmers’ Market is officially back.
Buttery Brook Park serves as the new location of the town’s market and the May 24 opening day had plenty of residents stop by and check it out the various markets set up.
Reminder Publishing spoke to market manager Jen Krassler back in January when she had just started a Kickstarter campaign to help bring back the South Hadley Farmers Market. A former manager of the old iteration of the South Hadley market, Krassler had crossed paths with an old South Hadley vendor who eventually offered her the position of manager in bringing the market back.
Through collaboration with the Parks and Recreation Department, Krassler has secured Buttery Brook Park as the new location of the South Hadley Famers Market and is looking forward to being a part of the South Hadley community through this position.
“The move to Buttery Brook is enormous for this market. We were at the town common and the challenges with that were location. Our vendors could not bring their vehicles up on the grass so what was happening was they would have to park on the side of a kind of busy road and unload as fast as possible and then park blocks away,” Krassler explained to Reminder Publishing in January. “It was so dangerous and just so inconvenient for everybody because they’re unloading truckloads of like root vegetables, it’s not easy work.”
Mark Carnevale of MC Woodworks makes charcuterie boards, cutting boards and other woodworking projects and was one of the stands set up in the marketplace.
“Great location, easy for vendors to set up,” Carnevale said. “The crowds already rolling in and it looks like it’s gonna be a great event today.”
Also utilizing the new space was Sophia Aussant and her small business Sophia Rose pottery. Aussant said the turnout for day one was good, and she was looking forward to being able to offer pieces of work in the market.
New South Hadley farm Love Leaf had their own stand set up at the market as well and were selling fresh greens. Owner Michael Fredette explained Love Leaf specializes in indoor growing microgreens that are grown in a climate-controlled environment vertically on racks.
“They’re nutritious, they’re delicious, they’re great on soup, salad, sandwiches,” Fredette said.
Baker’s Lane Biscotti out of Monson was one of the stands set up within the market as well, selling fresh goods. Owner and chef Lyn Fioravanti bakes out of the First Congregational Church in Monson where she uses their certified kitchen and kicks back 10% of all sales as an ongoing fundraiser for the church.
“The Farmers Market is going great so far, it’s a gorgeous day and a lot of people have already come by to taste and sample,” Fioravanti said.
The Kickstarter fundraising campaign was most useful in purchasing SNAP processing equipment as well as to start a SNAP MATCH program, as a means to assist fixed and low-income seniors and low-income families and allow for the use of SNAP cards on site. A GoFundMe has also been created to serve as an ongoing donations account where the market will be accepting community donations for this SNAP MATCH program only.
“There’s a lot of other markets that do something called a snap match program, where they raise a bunch of money through sponsorships – which I’m planning on doing – to basically match people’s SNAP up to $10 per market,” Krassler explained previously to Reminder Publishing. “So, if somebody were to come up to the market booth and run their SNAP card for up to $10, we basically give them $10 more in tokens to spend at the market.”
Opening day of the South Hadley Farmers Market’s return went off well to decent crowds, and vendors echoed similar sentiments throughout the afternoon that they would be happy to return and make the market a regular stop during the season.
The South Hadley Farmers Market will be open every Wednesday from 2-6 p.m. until Oct. 11.