ABOVE: Betty’s Budding Bakers, which sells treats from dog biscuits to breakfast bars, set up at the Fairmont Farmers’ Market. The market is located near Burger King in the Five Lakes Centre parking lot and it’s open from 9 am to 12 pm each Saturday. Beginning July 9, the Farmer’s Market will open on Tuesdays from 4 pm to 6 pm.

FAIRMONT — The summer season is progressing, and so are vendors at this year’s Fairmont Farmers’ Market. Several shop owners have served the Farmers’ Market for years, providing home-baked and garden-grown goods to local consumers. Since the county has reached significantly warmer (and fairly rainy) climates, owners and customers alike have been bustling and flocking to the 5 Lakes Centre Mall to take a gander at a wide, diverse collection of distributed goods and indulge their summer shopping list.

Dallas Berube, his mother, and his sister founded the Butter Babes, a baked goods shop based in Truman. Berube brings several confectioneries and baked meals, with his specialty sourdough, to the table. Routinely, Butter Babes offers a delectable collection of brownies, cookies, pancake mix, s’mores bars, cinnamon rolls and more. Butter Babes is hopeful to introduce new products each week at the farmers’ market.

“We are a new business and it began with my mom, sister, and I tossing ideas around and it grew into ‘Butter Babes’,” Berube shared. “Now that the farmers’ market is here I am looking forward to getting the opportunity to meet some new people and introduce new products.”

Atypical Acres, a neurodivergent-owned business, operates near Trimont with owners Stephanie Paradis and Max Peterson. Paradis mentioned the business is in its fourth year of working at the Fairmont Farmers’ Market. It sells home-baked goods and hand-made pottery. Peterson is the potterer, and Paradis is the baker.

“As an autistic woman, a lot of aspects of ‘normal’ jobs are difficult or stressful. So, capitalizing on our skill sets felt like the best alternative to provide for our family,” Paradis remarked. Paradis shared that during the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she and her family spent their time indoors to consider what they wanted for their future, desiring to find more opportunities to remain home to tend to their children.

“What started as an alternative to traditional employment quickly turned into a deep passion for the beauty and art that can be found in both baking and ceramics. Both paths have allowed for creative experimentation through which we have learned what works not only for us but for our customers as well,” Paradis said.

Atypical Acres strives to engage with customers, seeking feedback from them which prompts the shop to experiment with recipes, goods and crafts.

Terry Viesselman is an expert when it comes to bees and honey, always eager to talk about honey production with his customers at the local market. Growing up around beekeeping his entire life, Viesselman watched and admired his grandfather’s tending to bees and their honey before he finally got his own bees 13 years ago.

Viesselman began with two hives of bees, gradually increasing the number of hives over the years as he gained more experience and comfort around the honey-makers. Viesselman remarked that his flourishing enjoyment for beekeeping urged him to add more bees. He owns his hives in Granada and two more locations in between Trimont and Sherburn.

“Selling honey is a pain, but a necessity if you have many hives or you’re quickly overwhelmed with buckets of honey. What I enjoy about the Farmers’ Market is the camaraderie between the vendors and interacting with the customers….especially if they want to talk bees,” Viesselman said.

Vee’s Bees locations include the local market, vendor shows and home sales. This year, at the Farmers’ Market, Vee’s Bees is presenting new products to provide to customers.

“This year I’ve introduced some new flavored caramels and decorative glass honey jars which make nice little gifts,” Viesselman said.

In addition to honey production, Mike and Becky Tow are far from novices themselves in regards to bees, owning TnT Honey Co. LLC. along with fourteen hives based locally in Fairmont. Beyond their popular raw honey, the Tows vend bees wax candles, bee wax lip balm, hot honey, cinnamon honey and a further catalog of bee-collaborative and home-grown items for sale.

“We have been at Fairmont Farmer’s Market for a few years taking time off from the weekly event in 2023. There are many different new vendors at the market each year,” Becky said.

TnT Honey Co. LLC additionally sells its goods at the HUB in downtown Fairmont and by word of mouth. Their product labels contain further contact information should their buyers need to contact them.

Soldier Creek Goat Soaps N’ More and Potthoff Produce began at the Farmers’ Market by selling soaps and lotions made from goat milk. The goat milk is from the Potthoff family goats at a farm near Dunnell.

“It all started years ago when our son wanted dairy goats for a 4-H project and the soap business grew from his 4-H project,” Dawn Potthoff explained.

Since that time, Soldier Creek and Potthoff Produce expanded and evolved. Throughout several years of working at the market, the Potthoff family acquired a cottage food license. Following that accomplishment, they started to sell baked goods, canned goods, jellies, jams and several other savory treats on each Farmers’ Market day. Potthoff noted that one of her sons began gardening, allowing the family to provide their customers with freshly grown goods straight from their soil.

“Although this year it will be somewhat limited after a house move, we will bring what we have and in the future will continue to grow. We always look forward to seeing return customers each year at the market,” Potthoff concluded.

The Power of Produce (PoP) Token farmers’ market incentive program will be returning once again this year for children and senior citizens. Following check-in, children receive $2 and seniors receive $4 toward purchasing fresh produce at the local market. The PoP program aims to enrich communities and improve participation in shops.

Inquiries to individual sellers can be made toward their pop-up stands at the time of each Farmers’ Market, which is from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Beginning July 9, the Farmers’ Market will be open from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays. The Farmers’ Market season began in June and will conclude in October.