Glover Park Burleith Farmer's Market struggling in its second year

Share

Photo by Molly Redden

Patrons at the Glover Park Burleith Farmer's Market, which has not grown as much as vendors had hoped

Following a year that several vendors said was an impressive first season for a market, customers have been scarce at the Glover Park Burleith Farmer's Market at Hardy Middle School all month, causing some vendors to wonder whether to stay or leave for other venues, and causing two to pull out altogether.

"Last year, everyone said it was a great first year. Now, they're expecting us to grow," said Lauren Biel, who founded the market in June 2009.

Biel said she wasn't necessarily worried that two vendors had pulled out this season. One of them, Blue Ridge Dairy, is a high-profile farm that sells it products at Whole Foods and seven other Saturday markets. She was surprised that they agreed to try out her small, five-hundred-person market in the first place. It's the smaller vendors who are currently toughing out a slow market who have her worried.

"There are a number of other vendors who aren't pulling out yet but are concerned, and that raises the red flag for me," Biel said. "So many are saying, 'I can't even pay my staff. We love the market, and we want to give it a chance, but at some point, we have to decide if its worth our time to be here.'"

Most vendors have noticed the drop in customers and business, particularly the fresh produce sellers, but even vendors whose business is up from last year are still counting on the market's customer base to expand and make setting up at the farmer's market every week a worthwhile venture. That includes Jason Edwards, the effusive manager of the Blue Ridge Botanicals stand.

"This market has all kinds of things—fresh fruits, plants, flowers, there's rampant prostitution, contract hits. Put that in the article. Then people will come," he joked.

Edwards waxed philisophical on how to attract more Georgetown customers for several minutes.

"Shopping here is the equivalent of a charitable contribution .... Really, people just have to be re-trained to come here. They have to find time in their busy schedules, maybe come here instead of taking that second or third vacation."

In spite of the low numbers, vendors are quick to point out what they like about this market.

"It's really well organized, and nothing is junky," said Karen Roberts, who sells pound cakes and other baked goods. "It's also got a very festival atmosphere. There's live music, the children come, it's like going to a carnival every Saturday. It's definitely the best market I've ever been at in that way."

Biel and her vendors said a lot of things could account for the drop. Suzanne Smallwood, who hails from Barrywood, VA, said many customer's favorite products, like tomatoes and peaches, won't appear until later in the season. Right now, leafy greens that neighborhood residents may not know what to do with make up most of the selection. This past weekend was a holiday weekend, and residents are also used to having access to the Dupont Circle Market, a large market with more selection that doesn't depend on their weekly business to survive.

But in Biel's words, vendors "can't put that number in parentheses forever."

"We averaged about five hundred customers a week last year. This season, we've consistenly been in the four hundreds," Biel said. "More than anything, we're trying to help people realize that if they want the market to be here, they have to be here."