Fairfield Farmers Market plans special event for National Farmers Market Week

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Farmers Market is honoring National Farmers Market Week, which is Aug. 7-13.

To commemorate the occasion, Market Master Deanna Julsen is profiling several of the regular vendors at the market by taking photos of their farms.

“In the past, they had farm tours, but that’s a lot of work and you have to drive all over the place,” she said. “I’m making little movies with the vendors, and we’re going to show them at our information booth at the Aug. 13 market.”

Fairfield Farmers Market will give away reusable tote bags in honor of National Farmers Market Week, too. The market meets twice a week during the summer, in Central Park on Wednesday afternoons and in Howard Park on Saturday mornings. This most recent Saturday, July 30, the market had one of its busiest days of the summer, with 33 vendors set up in Howard Park. Julsen said Saturday markets normally draw 26-30 vendors, and Wednesday markets typically get four to eight.

The farmers market got a grant from the Fairfield Cultural Alliance which has allowed it to offer live entertainment every Saturday. Julsen said musicians within about 100 miles of Fairfield have flocked to the market to perform for the crowds. They’re paid $50, plus whatever they make in tips.

“I think people really enjoy it, and it adds to the atmosphere of the park,” Julsen said. “We’re going to have the high school drumline perform for us in October.”

The Southeast Iowa Sierra Club puts on a special event at the market every month, and sometimes twice a month. For two weeks in a row in July, the organization hosted a “repair day” where members of the public brought broken tools to the market, and someone with the organization fixed them. The Sierra Club is hosting another program this coming Saturday with a feature on electric vehicles beginning at 9 a.m.

Julsen said she hopes that more vendors will begin growing crops in the fall, because that’s usually a time when the produce is scarce. In fact, the market just hosted a program on July 30 on exactly that topic, about how to start plants now that will provide fruit in a few months.

One of the farmers market regulars are vendors Kim and Steve Keller, who live southeast of Fairfield. They have a garden that’s about three to four acres, where they grow many vegetables. They have a high tunnel where they grow kale, chard and spinach. In their greenhouse, they start eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash and asparagus. Kim also bakes pies and pecan roles, among other things.

Kim said her favorite part about selling at the market is visiting with people.

“People support our market really well,” she said. “People come from other towns, even from Missouri. It’s nice to meet different people.”

The Kellers have sold at the Fairfield Farmers Market for at least 15 years. Kim said it’s nice to see live entertainment every week, and she appreciates the work that Julsen and Barb Sieren have put into promoting the market.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com