BAR HARBOR, Maine — For local food buyers, spring began in earnest Sunday, as the Bar Harbor Eden Farmers’ Market returned for a new outdoor season.
Vendors sold a wide variety of Maine food and crafts, including maple syrup, fresh veggies, cheese, and bouquets of flowers for Mother's Day.
To veterans of the market, Sunday served as a cheerful return to a seasonal community.
“Its nice to catch up and see how everyone's winter has been,” Logan Schwartz, who talked glowingly about other vendors and long-time customers, said Sunday.
Some newer producers hope this closeness will help drive business.
“Making connections and developing those relationships is huge,” Madison Jones, a recent graduate of the University of Maine and head of Seal Point Farm, which sells flowers, explained.
Jones said she generates about 70 percent of her farm’s yearly earnings from these markets. For others, like Lauren Mapes of Whitaker Farm in Brooks, it’s about 90 percent, making Sunday’s market a welcome shift from the lean winter months.
“The cash flow starts back up. We’ve made it through the winter for money we had for that time,” Mapes said.
While quaint in appearance, Maine farmers' markets contribute to a substantial farm-to-consumer economy.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent Local Food Marketing Practices survey found these direct marketing practices generated $9 billion in sales nationwide in 2020.
In that same time, Maine saw the fifth highest value of total direct food sales, at $342 million, beat only by much larger states like New York and California. While farmers' markets and farm stores make up only part of this number, the vendors in Bar Harbor are quick to praise the unique loyalty of their clientele as driving business.
“One thing that you’ll find in farmers markets throughout the state… is that there are really dedicated customers,” Mapes said.
The Bar Harbor farmers’ market will re-open next Sunday, May 19, at 9 a.m.