Maple Grove Farmers Market Celebrates 20 Years in Temporary Location
The Maple Grove Farmers Market is going strong.
Now in its 20th season, the spot for fresh produce and local goods attracts crowds every Thursday evening from May to October.
Crowds come out to Maple Grove Farmer’s Market.
“Some ready to eat food, a lot of delicious produce, baked goods, jams, preserves, pickles anything you could really want at a farmer’s market we sell,” said Recreation Coordinator Roee Hecht. “It’s super fun and we love being out here.”
Over 50 vendors turn out to sell their products, including Tanya Denny who’s been bringing her honey to the market for 10 years.
“It’s always a lot of fun,” said Denny. “This is actually the only farmer’s market we go to. We love the customers, being able to get involved in our community. It’s especially special for us since we are the only working farm in Maple Grove.”
Tanya Denny sets up her honey table at the Maple Grove Farmer’s Market.
But while customers have been able to get her locally-harvested honey for a long time at the Maple Grove Farmer’s market, this year, they’re lining up at a new location.
The market moved from its usual spot outside the Maple Grove Community Center to the parking lot of the Church of the Open Door, located on Zanzibar Lane North.
“The community center is undergoing the expansion project that started earlier this summer and phase one of that project is kind of redoing that farmer’s market parking lot,” said Hecht. “So if you were to go by the community center right now you would see it’s just a construction site. It’s all fenced off, and bulldozers and everything off like that, so we decided to move here.”
Despite being in a different location, organizers say crowd size has remained virtually the unchanged, although the market is attracting some new customers.
“We do customer counts and our numbers are pretty even and we think its kind of a balance. You got the people who live really close to the community center and maybe walk there or something, so we might lose some customers but gain some customers being on this side of town,” said Hecht.
With 20 years already under its belt, the future of the farmer’s market looks bright, no matter where it’s located, thanks to its loyal customers and quality vendors.
“We love being able to provide for the community around us especially when people start to understand all the health benefits that can come from honey, understand about our sustainability efforts, and have that all right where people live,” said Denny.
The Maple Grove Farmers Market will be open through September from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and til October 17 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
