City launches winter market

SOUTH PORTLAND — No sooner has South Portland closed on the season on its first farmers market than it gets ready to claim another new initiative.

On Sunday, the city will see the opening of its first winter’s market.

“It’s going to include 11 vendors from the South Portland, Portland and Scarborough summer markets,” said organizer Caitlin Jordan, of Cape Elizabeth’s Alewives Brook Farm. “We’ll have everything from breads to chicken, dairy, pork, grass-fed beef, lamb, chowders, seafood and all the root vegetables.

“We think there’s a lot of potential in South Portland and we’re hoping that moving people inside and giving them the opportunity to eat healthily and locally all winter long will keep the spirit of supporting local farmers going,” said Jordan.

What remains unknown is the fate of the summer market, which ran on Thursdays in Thomas Knight Park. Although it was launched with much fanfare this past July – including an appearance by the market’s self-proclaimed “biggest cheerleader,” Mayor Rosemarie DeAngelis, in a watermelon costume – attendance dropped over the course of the season.

Penny Jordan, of Cape Elizabeth’s Jordan Farm (no relation to Caitlin Jordan), admits there were mitigating factors. “After the first few weeks it seemed like it rained every Thursday,” she said. Still, both woman have begin stumping to have the market moved to Mill Creak Park next spring. The issue, said Caitlin Jordan, is “location, location, location,” and Thomas Knight Park, in the shadow of the Casco Bay Bridge, doesn’t have it. “A lot of people don’t even know where Thomas Knight Park is,” both Jordans said, in separate interviews.

However, the move to new digs may not go smoothly, if at all. De Angelis herself seems opposed to a Mill Creek location.

"You'd have to close off traffic completely, and you'd be right in the face of Hannaford, who's been a great business partner to the city," she said at a recent council meeting. "That's just not smart."

Penny Jordan said there were several factors that hobbled the summer market, in addition to regular Thursday showers. Some older patrons found it a challenge to navigate the cobblestone walk in Thomas Knight Park, construction in the area, the start of which roughly coincided with the drop in attendance, may have discouraged some, while the time-consuming process of navigating necessary changes to city zoning delayed the start of the season until July, which limited the amount of marketing that could be done effectively while also harvesting.

“Farmer’s don’t have a marketing staff,” said Jordan. “They are the marketing staff.”

Still, Jordan said, the primary problem was location, given nothing else in the Bridgeline section of Knightville to funnel people to the area. However, she said, she is willing to look at sites other than Mill Creek Park.

“I think the location was challenging because there wasn’t enough to draw people down there,” Penny Jordan said. “If you can get people moving down the street with other things, they’ll go down there, but not if that’s the only thing. I think the market really, really, really needs to move for next season.”

While challenges may loom for farmers in year two of the South Portland summer markets, both Jordans have high hopes for the winter market.

“People need to recognize that farming doesn't stop in September,” said Penny Jordan. “And it doesn’t stop in December, January, February or March. It just continues all year long.

“People say, oh, there’s no lettuce, but we’ll have broccoli and kale, and root vegetables aren’t a bad thing,” she said, listing squash, carrots, beets, rutabaga, turnip, cooking radishes, garlic, onions and potatoes. “There are all these products. Consumers who are very much local food advocates need to recognize that there’s a whole bunch of produce that farmers are still harvesting and that they have stored. But it’s not about getting one thing all year round. Eating locally does mean learning to eat seasonally.”

A CLOSER LOOK

SOUTH PORTLAND FARMER’S MARKET

South Portland Farmers Market winter hours

When: Sundays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., starting Nov. 6

Where: South Portland Planning and Development Building, corner of Ocean and Sawyer streets (in what was the gym of the old Hamlin School)