ENGLEWOOD \u2014 By 11:30 a.m. Thursday, about 1,000 people had passed through the new Englewood farmers market on Dearborn Street, checking out produce, seafood, herbs and flowers at 23 vendors\u2019 booths. Englewood resident Jeanne Fox strolled through the grassy Pioneer Park smiling as people shopped around her. \u201cThis is the greatest thing ever \u2014 what wonderful produce,\u201d Fox said. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to come back next week.\u201d Don Musilli, co-chairman of the Englewood Center for Sustainability and an organizer of the event, said the turnout
was phenomenal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is amazing, it\u2019s being so well received by the people, it\u2019s everything we hoped it would be,\u201d he said. Wayne Dancer, a produce vendor from Port Charlotte, said the successful turnout proves that all the hard work organizers put into planning the event paid off. \u201cThis is exactly what Englewood needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the spirit of sustainability, many people walked or rode bikes to the market.<\/p>\n
Jim Dembrowski, owner of Tropical Island Foods in Punta Gorda, handed out samples of kettle corn to guests while
they watched a new batch being prepared. \u201cWe have tables at other markets in the area, but this is the only weekday one, so we plan on being here for the next several months,\u201d he said. Having a weekday market was crucial to its success, said Lee Perron, who helped organize it.
\u201cIf you want the topquality vendors then you need a weekday market,\u201d Perron said. \u201cThey\u2019re just not available on
Friday, Saturday and Sunday.\u201d Carolyn Marchbank, manager of Community Haven Plant Nursery, was one of those vendors.
Community Haven is a nonprofit organization that does vocational training for the disabled on a 32-acre campus in
Sarasota. \u201cI found out two days ago about this market,\u201d she said. \u201cAlmost every customer has told me they\u2019re so happy we\u2019re
here. We do a lot of markets. This one is awesome.\u201d A week ago, market organizers expected 12 vendors. Twice as many showed up Thursday and more are applying. \u201cVendors told us this was the best opening market day they\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Perron said. \u201cThe success was driven by the
community and the pent-up demand for a farmers market.\u201d Shoppers chose from fresh-baked goods, nuts and dried fruits as well as more exotic items such as kits to start an organic worm garden. Chefs from the European Bakery and Deli in Lehigh Acres had a table with stone-oven-baked Bavarian breads, pretzels, pastries and cakes. Carrie and Fred Dula are the mother-and-son owners of Come Under the Yum Yum Tree Produce in Sarasota. \u201cWe\u2019re happy with the produce we\u2019ve sold,\u201d she said. \u201cThe atmosphere\u2019s good too,\u201d he added. The Dulas brought tomatoes and cucumbers from Ruskin, watermelons and cantaloupes from Myakka and lots more \u2014 80 percent of their produce is from local farms, Fred said. Many who attended the market brought their four-legged friends on leashes.<\/p>\n
Some of the vendors were sold out or nearly depleted by noon.<\/p>\n
Russ Kyper of Englewood was among those who showed up Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s a great thing for Dearborn but also something that was needed,\u201d he said. Terra Tominelli, founder of the eco-friendly TerraNichol Academy of the Arts had a table set up and passed out literature about the Englewood school where she teaches green principles to preschoolers and their parents. \u201cI plan to be here every week,\u201d she said. \u201cIt goes along with the eco-philosophy that we have at the school. It was a great addition to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
For some, the farmers market was their first time on Dearborn Street, Musilli said.<\/p>\n
The Dearborn farmers markets will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays through May.
For more information, go to: englewoodfarmersmarket.org<\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
You can also email:<\/p>\n
info@englewoodfarmersmarket.org<\/a>“>info@englewoodfarmersmarket.org<\/a> or ENGLEWOOD \u2014 By 11:30 a.m. Thursday, about 1,000 people had passed through the new Englewood farmers market on Dearborn Street, checking out produce, seafood, herbs and flowers at 23 vendors\u2019 booths. Englewood resident Jeanne Fox strolled through the grassy Pioneer Park smiling as people shopped around her. \u201cThis is the greatest thing ever \u2014 what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englewoodfarmersmarket.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
vendors@englewoodfarmersmarket.org<\/a>“>vendors@englewoodfarmersmarket.org<\/a> or
call 941-548-7843<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"