In July 2020, Reagan, age 2½, and mom Ashley from Monroe buy raspberries from the Lopez Bros. Farms stall at the Monroe Farmers Market, on Wednesday, June 24, in the parking lot of Galaxy Theatre. The market featured fruit, veggies, face shields and barbecued food. Other vendors offered metal and craft items for sale.
Jim Scolman
MONROE — Janelle Drews thinks it will be a banner year for the Monroe Farmers Market.
With a record 75 vendors, she’s got reason to be giddy.
The Wednesday market’s season opens this week and runs through Sept. 1 at the parking lot of Galaxy Theatre, which is by the Five Guys off of Kelsey Street.
Fruits and vegetables are just part of the menu. There are meat sellers, wineries and distilled spirit makers, too.
The market is now accepting WIC (Women, Infants and Children) cards and is working to soon accept SNAP food stamps. To use SNAP, people buy market tokens from the market’s info booth out front.
Drews said some of the new vendors include baking outfit That Takes the Cake as well as the Burkhead Art Center on Monroe’s outskirts. Another baker, Sugarbelle Bakery, sells 100 percent dairy-free and gluten-free goods.
One of the meat sellers is the one-person organic butcher who runs Feral Woman Farm. You can meet her and plenty of others at the Wednesday afternoon market.
The vendors are almost all mom-and-pop stands.
A wave of new, independent homesteaders are contributing to the trend, Drews said.
About 25 produce farms have stands in the market, plus about 20 craft vendors. It runs the gamut: raw honey, knife sharpening services, jams and jellies, flowers, dog biscuits and more.
Location, location, location. People driving by have seen the tents and stopped by to see what’s going on, Drews said. This visibility has helped the market grow from its first season in 2018.
Drews, the market manager, also runs the Monroe Chamber of Commerce.
If you go, please consider leaving your pet dog at home. Social distancing will also be required.
The market has a half-hour time reserved for seniors and high-COVID-risk shoppers from 2:30 to 3 p.m. Its general hours are 3 to 7 p.m.
Want to be a vendor? Go to www.choosemonroe.com, email director@choosemonroe.com or call 360-794-5488.
