By BEAR ATWOOD
The Ramspondents
Eden Valley worker packs up the stall for the day at the Fort Collins Farmers Market on Sept. 24.
When asked to think of a farmers market, an Ace Hardware parking lot is not what usually comes to mind. But this year, it's the current home of the Fort Collins Farmers Market.
Not to be confused with the Larimer County Farmer’s Market – which is held in Old Town on Saturdays – the Fort Collins Farmers Market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays until Nov. 9. One thing the two markets have in common is that they both accept funds from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through coupons obtained by visiting the informational booth.
Despite the hot temperatures left over from the fading summer season still warming up the asphalt, community members from as far as Windsor and vendors as far as Boulder come together over the shared love of local food.
Kelvin Melgar is the owner of Hopelands Coffee and makes the hour trek from Boulder to come vend at the market. Since they don’t have a physical location, farmers markets like this are important to further market his business.
“I don't make a lot of business today, but I connect with the people, and that is the awareness process,” Melgar said. “In the business side, it's not worth it too much, but at the end it's worth it because you create connection and create community, and that's what I wanted for me.”
This season was Melgar’s first time vending at a farmer’s market, but he said he has found the community to be very welcoming.
“The community here is really good, it's friendly,” Melgar said. “The people is so kind and I try to be the best person too with all the people that I meet here, it's kind of give back the kindness they give me back too.”
Kelvin Melgar pours a farmers market goer a free sample of his coffee at the Fort Collins Farmers Market on Sept. 24.
Brittany Ayer, a resident who has gone to the market for the past two years, also mentioned enjoying the sense of community that permeates throughout the market. One thing she appreciates about the market has been being able to support smaller businesses like Hopelands Coffee that don’t have the same security of a larger organization to fall back on.
“Take your time,” she advised first time goers. “Do a lap and then commit. Don't feel like just because you're out here you gotta stop at every booth and buy everything straight away. Get a feel for it, and then make a game plan.”
Another small business at the market is Chef Sarah’s Family Favorites, a cannery business run by Sarah Finster. Growing up in Indiana, Finster had gotten into canning and preserving from her grandparents.
“I have many years of making things using recipes that other people have created, that maybe I thought I could do a different way,” Finster said, “And so this way, I can stand on my own creations and standards and policies as far as how I sell things and what products I choose.”
Finster’s business specifically focuses on using local ingredients and tries to promote sustainability by giving customers a dollar off future purchases when they return jars from their previous visits for Finster to sanitise and reuse.
Sarah Finster vends at the Fort Collins Farmers Market on Sept. 24.
The Fort Collins Farmer’s Market is located at 1001 E Harmony Road.
Bear Atwood is a writer and reporter with a passion for community-based journalism. He’s a first gen college student attending CSU with a major in English and a minor in Journalism and Media Communication.