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Gainesville Florida, the University town recently famous for three national collegiate athletic championships in 366 days, is also one of the largest Farmers' Markets communities in Florida. There are five Farmers' Markets within a 25-mile range.
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It's natural. Florida's climate allows for a long growing season. Mid-size and smaller farmers needed an outlet for their products. And one of the largest land grant institutions of higher learning — the University of Florida in Gainesville — provides both the educational underpinnings and student/faculty population to support these vibrant markets.
One of the most successful is the Union Street Farmers' Market, located in the heart of downtown, a short distance from the University's main campus. Twelve years ago, two individuals, Charlie Lybrand and Rosie Koenig carefully assessed the opportunities available for a new market near the campus and decided to create one a little different from the rest. They felt the climate was ripe for a market that allowed both the growers and craftsmen to share space in the town's center plaza.
"We want as many farmers as we can get and so about half of our vendors are farmers. But beyond that we have a certain amount of craft items. We have a wider range because we feel the customers will show what they really want," explained Charlie Lybrand , Poet, musician, beekeeper and co-founder of the Union Street Farmers' Market.
"Our philosophy has always been to not micro-manage things, putting regulations and rules down," says Rosie Koenig , co-founder and organic farmer. "Instead let the free market determine what works and what doesn't work. The marketplace will settle those things out. If there is a vendor there that people don't purchase their wares from, they usually don't return. So you kind of over time narrow it down to the folks that people want to buy from."
And what do the folks who come to the market think about the selection of vendors?
"I like the whole atmosphere", says Fatma Kaplan , University graduate student and market fan. "We come here sometimes to sit down and listen to the music and talk to the farmers to learn how they produce (the products) and for vegetables. We love it! They're the best vegetables we can get around town."
"I like shopping at the market much more than those enormous shopping malls," Dutch tourist Corrine Van Zweden explains. "We are very used to going to the market with small shops, and I like that we have that in Gainesville because the big supermarkets are still too big for me."
We love it! They're the best vegetables we can get around town.
"I come here because I like the atmosphere", explains Katy Dean , student and market patron. "There are lots of vendors and lots of children playing. It's really a fun place to be and just to see all the items here and to smell them and to meet people."
Among the 40 to 60 vendors at Union Street Farmers' Market is retired professor of agricultural economics, Leo Polopolus . He sells pecans, chestnuts, peanuts, Satsuma (Japanese tangerines), persimmons, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples, carrots, beets and broccoli. With 85 different products he is able to harvest something to eat 52 weeks out of the year.
"The thing about farmers' markets", says Leo "is you get to know the people. We have so many repeat customers and their friends. They become a part of your family."
Laura Hall owns the 2nd Street Bakery an organic bakery and coffee house in downtown Gainesville and sells at two Gainesville farmers' markets every week "because it's sort of like another store front for a day. That makes a big difference to a small business like us," says Laura. "At the market you have that interconnection with the client. You're right there selling your product and they're telling you what they believe about your product. So you get to hear it first hand and that's been invaluable to us."
One of the advantages of the farmers' market is the consumer begins to learn something.
She continues, "I feel upbeat the entire time I'm there. I connect with the people, talk about community, politics, what's on the news, what's happening in local politics, whatever seems to come up. It's such a rich connection to the community. When we go to the farmers' market we really hear how people feel."
And then there's music. Charlie brings his band to start things humming and then local musicians take over to entertain at the downtown plaza. "Music is a big part of what we try to do. It's one of the things that we really like about the market because it brings our Gainesville's creativity to perform on the plaza stage. Last night was kind of neat because it was a night that everything that was played was original," exudes Charlie.
The Union Street Farmers' Market opens at 4pm on Wednesdays and continues until 8pm — long after sundown during the winter solstice. Farmers conduct business in darkness and patrons bring their children to romp in the plaza green.
"I've been coming for about 3 or 4 years", says Cameron Schiller , PhD candidate and market regular. "The only change I've seen is that it has been growing — more people, more vendors, bigger selection. It's very good."
It makes a lot of sense — it keeps money in the community. It helps support small farmers as opposed to large commercial farmers, and it gives the consumer base a fresh wholesome product.
Katy Dean tells us "My favorite food is Tera Nova's catering. Their goat cheese is fantastic, but you have to get here early for it because it sells out so quickly."
Citrus grower Marion Holder sells 15 varieties at the market including navels, red navels, red grapefruit, white grapefruit, Chinese Honey or Ponkan (a loose skinned tangerine), Hammon oranges, kumquats, mineola, Orlando and nova tangelos from 400 trees near Hawthorne Florida, about 20 miles west of Gainesville. Florida oranges have rust mites that discolor the rind. But Marion explains why oranges with rust mites are better than those without.
"Rust mite is a very small mite that scratches the surface of the skin and lets water evaporate out. (Oranges with rust mite) will dry out a little sooner than the ones that don't have the rust mite but it actually makes the juice sweeter because the water evaporates out and makes the juice more concentrated. A lot of my customers at the
farmers' market don't discriminate any more. They found out that the rusty one's just as good as the others."
And that explains Marion's attraction to farmers' markets. "One of the advantages of the farmers' market is the consumer begins to learn something. Maybe the first time they come to the market they would discriminate against (oranges with rust mite). But when I explain to them sometimes they come back and say they want the rusty ones. That's the advantage of being able to meet your customers face-to-face because you can tell them about it, and I guess they trust me because I tell them the best I know about it. If you go to the grocery store, nobody can tell you about it so you wouldn't know if you wanted it or not."
After nearly 25 years growing citrus, Marion knows his product. They are delicious and freshly picked from the fruit-laden trees that sit 18-feet apart on his 3-acre grove. "The last two Wednesdays I've taken over 40 bushels (to the market) and sold all of about 8 or 9 bushels of them downtown. People find a way to get there and they've found out my fruit is good so I get customers coming back every week to buy fruit. That's all I sell. I don't have anything else. So it makes it good for me in a way because not too many people have citrus fruit in Gainesville. I got several people downtown coming to me for years and years and they look forward every year to us coming back. And so I really appreciate them and they'll tell me how they appreciate me being there. I tell them if it weren't for you I wouldn't be here. It's a mutual admiration society I guess."
So, as we've found with many other markets, it takes good customers and dedicated growers to make a successful market. And it also takes time. As Charlie Lybrand explains, "the growth of Union Street we always wanted to be incremental. And every time that it went to the next phase we would go through and say look — your receipts may drop for a short period of time but you just have to have the faith. If you believe in the market you will get more customers in the long haul. And we'll all do better. And most of them have bought into that because they've seen it happen time and time again over the years. The thing is, that's what the customers want is choice. They don't want to have to buy from just one person. So like lettuce — they love the fact they can talk to six different people who grew it.
But you have to be a careful consumer. Rosie Koenig — the organic farmer and co-founder of the market warns unsuspecting market consumers — "the things that are common (at the market) are usually grown by local producers. If you see something that just doesn't make sense like a squash in Florida in January you might want to ask that vendor 'how did you grow this thing?' And sometimes people do have greenhouse operation or hydroponic operations and they have those things. But a lot of times even as much as I love growers, there's good growers and there's bad growers. There's growers you can trust. Not everybody is your Green Acres ideal of a farmer. So it's really important for you to ask those questions and be educated and don't be lured into the fact that you're in a farmers' market and everybody's honest. Just to be honest, sometimes people aren't honest — even farmers."
"I just think the concept of farmers' markets is really neat," says Leo Polopolus. "I'm pleased that the movement has caught on in America. And that it's growing. It makes a lot of sense — it keeps money in the community. It helps support small farmers as opposed to large commercial farmers, and it gives the consumer base a fresh wholesome product."
What could be better than that?
The Union Street Farmers' Market in Gainesville Florida is open 4pm to 8pm every Wednesday of the year, rain or shine, in the heart of downtown Gainesville, a short walk from the University of Florida. The next time the "Gators" are in a national collegiate championship, think about how lucky they are to be so close to one of the best farmers' markets in Florida — the Union Street Farmers' Market. They are #1.
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