Farmers Market connects consumers with local goods

The Downtown Salt Lake City Farmers Market has grown from humble roots to fill Pioneer Park every Saturday morning during the summer and fall. No matter if a person wants to buy or sell the farmers market is a way to test out new products and be entertained while you shop.

“Our goal is to put on a community event for the community to help these vendors help the local population of Salt Lake City,” said Downtown Alliance communications director Nick Como.

Twenty-one years ago, Bob Farrington, former director of the Downtown Alliance, was looking for a way to improve the area around Pioneer Park. He decided that he wanted a farmers market.

He drove up and down I-89 stopping at every farm stand he saw asking if they would come to Salt Lake City and set up shop on Saturday mornings in a park in a troubled neighborhood. Many people thought that Farrington was crazy to even try.

“It probably took a little crazy to get something like this going, and here we are twenty years later. It’s grown and grown,” said Como. “We were in half the park, now the whole park, and we have everything from art and craft vendors to prepared foods to packaged foods, like breads and hummus, and of course fruits and vegetables which is how we all started and is the nucleus of the farmers market.”

Not only is the farmers market a great place to shop—it is an experience.  Nestled between vendors are buskers or street performers. At 11:30 a.m. on the music stage, people are treated to popular local bands.

“For me, it’s not going there (the farmers market) for the food or prices. It’s just something to do to get out of the house,” said SLCC instructor Andrew Wilson. “It’s more like an activity than actually trying to get bargains on food.”

The farmers market has helped entrepreneurs including Rico who started out selling beans at the market and now owns a restaurant and factory.

“This is a place where you can test out our product to 10,000 people all at once, and it’s like a big test kitchen,” said Como.

With demand for local goods so high, the Downtown Alliance tested out the winter markets this past year.

“We are hoping to do a year round public market that’s in a location every day or once a week or something like that throughout the winter months,” said Como.