The market is run by the Greater Springfield Partnership and Mercy Health is the presenting sponsor. Admission is free.
With food prices on the rise, the Farmers Market is a way to get locally-grown food and items while enjoying the warm weather. It may also help with your bills, according to Camaren Sloan, Springfield Farmers Market events manager.
“Even prior to gas and food prices rising, prices here are comparable if not less and your money goes back into the community,” she said. “Some of it is picked the morning of the market, making it as fresh as it could possibly be.”
The Farmers Market should be closer to what it was pre-Covid. Sloan is seeing many small businesses coming back, many favorites returning and some new ones.
“At the market, you’ll run across all sizes of small businesses and this is a great opportunity to support them,” she said.
Some of the vendors got their start here and worked their way into brick-and-mortar businesses, and some new ones aspiring to get their own stores will be there as part of their journey.
Also returning is the OSU Extension Office’s Power of Produce (PoP) kids club that encourages youngsters to explore healthy food options and learn while enjoying the market with their families.
Sloan found there is so much interest from new vendors that space is getting tight and they’d eventually like to spread out into the esplanade by the fountain downtown to accommodate more choice and vendors.
A special version of the Farmers Market will be a part of the annual CommonsFest ‘22 event on June 23 at National Road Commons Park that will include several businesses and vendors as well.
For more information on the Farmers Market, go to www.facebook.com/SpringfieldFarmMarket/.
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