Certified Farmers Markets to stay open until the end of May
Vendors at all five Certified Farmers Market locations are getting an extra month to sell their products after a lull in business in April.
According to the owner of the markets, Christiana Green, the influx of festival goers last month drove many of their regular customers out of the valley.
“All the snowbirds were leaving, and they would come and say goodbye to us. We'd ask, "Where are you going?," and they're like, "We're leaving before the concert craziness comes to town,"" said Green.
Without the support of many of their regulars, vendors saw a stark decline in sales.
“We're okay with having a bad day but having three weeks of them in a row is difficult. So staying open really helps make up for that," said Green.
By allowing the market to stay open through the end of May, Green says she’s giving her vendors the opportunity to boost their sales and connect with the community before they close for the summer.
Alexandria Dinsdale, the owner of The Farm Stand-Oak Hills and a vendor at The Certified Farmers Markets, says that keeping the markets open is also beneficial the locals too.
“It helps because our locals know that they can come out the whole month of May before we close for the summer, which I'm dreading. Nobody's gonna be here in summer. It's way too hot to be out of these markets...But we want to make sure [locals] know we're not just here for tourists and we're not here just for the festival. We're here for our local customers," said Dinsdale.
