BIG NEWS!
Planning for the Ayr Farmers Market 2023 season is under way!!
We have the farm/food applications open! If you know a farmer, or small business selling food, please let them know! Share this post with your friends and family!!
Applications, as always can be found on our website:
www.heretotheremarketevents.com
or you can use this link below:
*artisan and special guest applications will be available in January/February
Some things to expect this coming season:
The market is again scheduled to run on Saturday mornings, from May 27 to October 7th. We discussed this a bit in our farewell to the farmers market blog a couple of months ago. With Church St in front of the arena being the ideal central location, it's not a good idea to try and close the street during a weekday, especially in the evening when everyone is trying to get home from work. While it is only a tiny detour down one side street, it's best to keep the market on a less busy road time like Saturday morning. As well, the location is optimal because even though it is not directly visible as you drive through downtown, it is still central for residents and offers a lot of vendor space along with a lot of parking space. We were unable to find any other location that would have both parking, vendor space and bathroom access. I know Centennial Park is mentioned often, but the resident geese call that their home and having aggressive geese during the spring with their goslings as well as the unsanitary conditions of goose poop is just not a combination I would like in a farmers market!!
We are also planning on keeping the time from 8-1. I did have a survey request for an earlier start time, but as it is the farmers are arriving around 6:30am to start setting up, which means they are prepping to leave at least an hour or two before that, not to mention anything they may have to do on the farm before they get to head out for the market. As the farmers market grows, if we have enough attendance and growth we will absolutely reevaluate opening earlier, but it was not the right choice for this year.
As for closing, we will again start off with having the market run till 1pm. This year we will be really pushing to make sure we have two food trucks available each week. So residents can get breakfast, lunch, coffee...etc.
Another change this year will be entertainment. We did have some days where entertainment was available, with our face painter, line dancers, etc. This year we will be hiring entertainers weekly.
Each week we will have something/someone at the market. More information on entertainers and how to sponsor an entertainer will be available in the new year. If you are a business who would like to sponsor an entertainer please reach out to ayrfarmersmarket@gmail.com.
Please stay tuned for all of the exciting news in the new year!
Don't forget to share the news with your friends!