Island's first farmer's market opens Saturday
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
On Saturday morning at 9 a.m. the inaugural Nantucket Farmer's and Artisan's Market opens at the Nantucket New School parking lot.

Organizers Wendy Fereshetian and Heather Leisher-Coffin, who for the last two years have been cultivating support for their idea of starting up a farmer's market, believe that smaller farmers, home gardeners, craftspeople, bee keepers and poultry and livestock farmers need a venue for a weekly confab of shoptalk and to share their products with the community.

"For me, I got involved with it thinking about local and sustainable practices and how there's no local organic produce that you can buy on a regular basis, and I really wanted to help fill that gap," Leisher-Coffin said.

Leisher-Coffin and Fereshetian are hoping for 11-to-12 vendors offering jewelry, honey, eggs, jams, jellies, baked goods and of course, fruit and vegetables on the market's first day.

"We still have people calling every day, so it might actually be more," she said.

The pair had originally planned to open the island's first farmer's market on July 7 at the Surfside Road entryway to Nantucket High School, but when they ran into zoning complications they could not resolve, Nantucket New School Principal David Provost eventually offered to hold the market in his school's parking lot. The idea is that the farmer's market will become a learning experience for students at the Nantucket New School.

"The high school was going to be an option, but they didn't think it would an option past the opening of the school and that's when Dave Provost offered us the New School," said Leisher-Coffin. "Dave submitted a letter to the zoning enforcement officer about how the market is going to enhance their educational curriculum. He accepted the terms of our handbook as enhancing the New School curriculum."

This educational partnership between the New School and the farmer's market could include the construction and use of a greenhouse by students; a financial examination of the business side of the market by math classes; science class work on plant propagation and cultivation in a controlled environment; and an in-depth exploration of Sustainable Nantucket's Buy Local campaign from health, economic and environmental perspectives.

The Nantucket Farmer's and Artisan's Market also secured approval from the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture to hold the market at the Nantucket New School; its opening in August also coincides with Massachusetts Farmers' Market week, which runs Aug. 19-25.

Vendors who participate in the farmer's market must commit to four, eight or 12-week-or-more periods and pay an annual fee that decreases as more venders join the market. Each vender also pays a stall rental fee for his or her space.

"Moors End Farm is involved and also a lot of backyard gardeners," Leisher-Coffin said. "Some people specialize in tomatoes, some people specialize in fruit and some people have everything; we're just putting them altogether."

Leisher-Coffin and Fereshetian invited Bartlett's Ocean View Farm, and although they are supportive of the farmer's market, Bartlett's could not promise they would be there right off.

The farmer's market, which is a pilot program sponsored by Sustainable Nantucket, will run Saturdays from

Aug. 11 through Oct. 6. I

MARKET YOURSELF

It is not too late to be a part of the Nantucket Farmer's and Artisan's Market. If you have something you grow, bake or make that you want to sell, or you want to volunteer, contact Sustainable Nantucket at 228-3399 or by email at tara@sustainablenantucket. org.