ABOVE: A purchase is made in a past year at the Fairmont Farmers’ Market. The market opens for the 2023 season on June 10.

FAIRMONT– The arrival of June brings with it the start of many summer activities and events. For many, summer means abundant fresh fruits and vegetables, which can be found at the Fairmont Farmers’ Market beginning June 10.

The season for the farmers’ market is from early June through October. Fairmont Farmers’ Market president, Doug Abel, said that visitors can expect to see a variety of offerings at the market on any given weekend.

“When we start, you’ll see things like asparagus, radishes, kohlrabi. As time goes on, the rest of the stuff will come in like beets, cabbages, green beans and then later there will be potatoes, carrots, onion and then sweet corn. It keeps progressing through the season,” Abel said.

By late summer/early fall, there will be pumpkins, squash, gourds and Indian corn.

Of course, nowadays a farmers’ market offers much more than just fresh fruits and vegetables and Fairmont’s is no different. Abel said visitors can expect to find canned goods like jams, jellies and salsa, local honey, eggs, freeze dried candies and homemade goat soap.

“There’s usually a few different people there with baked good that have anything from cookies to breads, rolls and buns and whatever array that they can come up with and sell,” Abel said.

He expects to have about 15 unique vendors this season.

“It seems like we get a new vendor or two each year,” Abel said.

Most of them are from around Martin County but at least one comes up from Iowa and another from Winnebago.

Those who wish to be a vendor at the farmers’ market can still apply by contacting a board member. There is a small fee required which helps pay for the rent. Licensing may be required depending on what someone is selling. Vegetables don’t necessarily require anything but those selling canned or baked goods need to register under Cottage Food Law.

While Able said most people use cash to make purchases, there are other options available thanks to a booth run by Rural Advantage.

Linda Meschke, president of Rural Advantage, said that for about 10 years they’ve had a merchant terminal at the market which can be used by EBT carriers or those who maybe don’t have cash on hand, but a credit card.

Meschke explained that EBT is the federal SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) program and that people in it have an amount transferred into their account each month. EBT can be used at the Fairmont Farmers’ Market through Rural Advantage’s booth.

“They can come to us and if they want $10 of fresh vegetables, they can get a $10 token to buy whatever they want, as long as it’s food,” Meschke said.

Because the majority of the vendors don’t have merchants terminals, this option allows EBT carriers to buy fresh produce at the market.

Along with that, another program Rural Advantage will offer this season is Market Bucks. Anyone who comes to the booth wanting tokens with an EBT card will get up to $10 in Market Bucks to match their tokens.

“They’ll have $20 to spend for a $10 purchase,” Meschke explained.

The goal of the program is to encourage EBT carriers to eat more healthy foods.

“And these days, a lot of people don’t carry cash so those people can come to our booth and we can give them $10 of tokens in exchange of $10 from their account,” Meschke explained.

She said the nice thing about using tokens is that no one will know whether someone used a debit/credit card or EBT to get tokens to purchase produce.

“We try to eliminate any negative stigma with using the tokens. It”s worked very well,” Meschke said.

Every few weeks the tokens will be turned into Rural Advantage and Meschke will write a check for the dollar amount of the tokens.

Rural Advantage also runs the Power of Produce program. For free, children ages 4 to 12 can get $2 worth of tokens at the Rural Advantage booth. With those, they can buy fruits and vegetables at the market.

“They can buy a tomato or cucumber and have it themselves or with their family. Some people might try out a new recipe or use it in a meal. The goal of it is to get more fresh fruit and vegetables in a diet,” Meschke said.

She said part of it is also to encourage interactions between children and adults.

“It has real value,” Meschke said of the program, now in its fourth year.

There is also a Power of Produce program for seniors. At no cost they’ll receive a $4 token which they can use to purchase fresh fruits or vegetables.

“We get grant money from the state and it’s with that money that we pay for the programs,” Meschke said.

She said that Dawn Potthoff, whose family has vegetables and the goat soap, runs the booth for Rural Advantage.

“Since she’s there anyway it works really well for us,” Meschke said.

The Fairmont Farmers’ Market is located in the northeast corner of the Five Lakes Centre parking lot, near Burger King. It is open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon and beginning July 11, on Tuesdays from 4 to 6 p.m.