WORDS BY ABBY WEINGARTEN
PHOTOS BY ANGELA JENKINS
Six visionaries were not sure what they were getting into when they pioneered the Englewood Farmers’ Market in November 2011. Would a Southwest Florida city of only about 15,000 people generate enough traffic to keep vendors profiting?
By the end of the market’s first season, Lee Perron and his team of founding members (Mike Hutchinson, Marie LaForge, Don Musilli, Jennifer Perry, and Ricardo Ruggiero) were dumbfounded.
What started with 17 vendors, 21 booths, and 1,500 daily shoppers in the fall had grown to 43 vendors, 50 booths, and 4,000 attendees by February. Now, the market’s organizers have a jam-packed waiting list, as well as a nod from last year’s Natural Awakenings magazine, to their credit.
The magazine’s readers’ poll rated the market the best in Florida, which boldly put the event on the state’s map and carved out Englewood as an economic driver for Sarasota County.
That demand pushed Perron and his cohorts to extend the duration of the market, bumping it up to October 1 and stretching it through the end of April. Located in historic downtown Englewood on Dearborn Street in the Olde Englewood Village, the market is held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday, except for Thanksgiving Day.
Peddlers flock in from Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte counties, as well as from Port St. Lucie, Jensen Beach, and Miami. As of the most recent tally, there are 49 vendors in the lineup and 60 booths. In other words, the market is at full capacity and on the verge of overflowing.
“People come back for the fresh produce and baked goods. We have a certified organic farmer from Venus, Florida, called Venus Veggies, which is hugely popular because they pick produce from their farm on Wednesday and have it at the farmers’ market on Thursday,” Perron says. “We have French, Italian, and German bakers, and people who make gourmet cupcakes, biscotti, gluten-free pastries, and bagels. We have hummus, pickles, fudge, plants, bonsai trees, orchids, and fresh herbs. It’s a very unique and diverse shopping experience.”
The market is a success in its own right, but it has also invaluably transformed the image of Englewood as a city. “Last year, we had 70,000 people who came into our market (18,000 to 20,000 of them were new to the downtown area). Those people spent $1.4 million on the vendors in the very first season,” Perron says. “The market has made Englewood a focal point for people to gather, and the whole city is being revitalized because of it.” To market, everyone, to heed the hype.
Please check out the Edible Sarasota Magazine