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FAIRFIELD – Fairfield Farmers Market celebrated its 50th anniversary on Saturday, Aug. 2 with special music from The Boys, activities for kids, and dozens of vendors bearing the finest produce, crafts and baked goods you can find.

The market is a welcoming place to every demographic and to folks from every walk of life. It features both seasoned veterans and young entrepreneurs ready to make their mark.

KIM KELLER

Very seldom does Kim Keller miss a farmers market. Owner of Blooming Acres, Keller is a staple at the market through the winter, and sells at both Wednesday and Saturday markets in the summer. She estimates she’s been selling for about 20 years, ever since her kids graduated from school, including daughter Megan Hines, who is now the market master.

Keller’s father-in-law Mark Keller sold produce at the market all through the 1980s. Kim and her late husband Steve then started their own booth, where Kim sold baked goods and Steve sold vegetables. Since Steve’s passing in February 2023, Kim has taken on both roles, doing just as much baking as before but now also tending to the family’s three-acre organic garden.

“It keeps me out of trouble, that’s for sure,” Keller said. “I have a lot of flower beds I want to keep up on, but there’s not enough time now to devout to them.”

Keller bakes 20-25 pies each week, plus four to six big pans of rolls, 10-15 loaves of bread, and brownies. She tries to do most of her baking on Friday so her goods are fresh, but this means baking late into the night.

“On Fridays, I don’t go to bed until 3-4 a.m.,” she said.

In her garden, Keller grows eggplant, cabbage, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes and more. She has a high tunnel greenhouse that allows her to grow through the winter, too.

“I go to pretty much every market, unless I have something fun like a quilting retreat,” Keller said. “I love working outdoors and love gardening. And if I quit baking, there would be a lot of disappointed people.”

MAKAIA BUSSCHER

Makaia Busscher has been selling at the market for a decade, and he’s still not old enough to vote. Busscher is 16 years old and operates a snow cone booth, which he’s done for the past eight years. Before that, he sold jewelry that he made himself, starting when he was just 6 years old.

“I was selling earrings, bracelets, and necklaces made of beads and rocks,” Busscher said.

Busscher said he quit selling jewelry when he had a day where he made four dollars in revenue, less than the fee he had to pay to sell at the market. He switched to selling snow cones, and that endeavor has proven more profitable.

“A lot of the money goes to paying for supplies, but I do make a profit, and I’m saving up to buy a house when I’m an adult,” he said.

Busscher’s parents, Andrew and Maya, own Bountiful Bakery. He buys some of his supplies from them, like honey or fruit for his syrups. He offers three flavors of snow cones at every market, strawberry, mango and cherry, and then tries a different fourth flavor every week, such as raspberry lemon, cucumber lime, blackberry or blueberry.

Busscher said the most challenging part of the business is hauling all the supplies on his bike trailer. He said the most rewarding part was getting to see kids happy to have a snow cone.

Andrew said he and Maya homeschool their children, and part of their program is giving them the space to create their own business.

“It teaches the kids responsibility, among many other things,” he said. “Our society is geared toward creating workers, but the people who have the most money and time own their own businesses. So even starting small scale can offer something to the community and get a snapshot of what it’s like to work toward prosperity.”

KEVIN RILEY

Vendors selling homemade crafts have become a bigger part of the market over the years, and one of the market’s frequent craft vendors is Kevin Riley and his business “Too Pretty to Burn.” Riley sells wooden utensils such as spoons and spatulas. The name for his business came from a special pile of firewood he created that he couldn’t bear to place in the fire, thus “too pretty to burn.”

“That pile started to grow,” he said. “And before the snow got too heavy, I felt like I had to do something with it.”

Riley liked the idea of carving utensils from his firewood, and the first set of them he gave away as Christmas gifts.

“Everyone got spoons and spatulas that year,” he said.

Riley said he enjoys making utensils because it gets him outside and away from the computer screen, since his main occupation is doing digital art through his business, Riley Designs.

“I design websites for as long as I can, but then I need to move my body,” he said. “It’s become one of my outlets for getting my body moving and getting sunshine and fresh air.”

Riley joked that he is a “solar-powered business.”

Riley’s goal is to make products that can’t be found on Amazon. He aspires not just to make spatulas, but to make the best spatula, period.

“I want to take it to a new level and make things you can’t get anywhere else,” he said. “I’m trying to make things that change your experience when you use them.”

Riley and his wife Faith Reeves also use the market as a venue to sell their homemade seasoning blend called “Garden Grind.” They grow all the herbs themselves, and source the other ingredients from organic producers.

“We’re trying to make that one, ultimate seasoning blend that enhances your food,” Riley said.