Vital Connections

Goshen Farmers Market celebrates 25 years of diversity and growth

When Dave Pottinger bought an old lumberyard in the late 1990s with a partner, he didn’t know what he was going to do with it. He and Owen Weaver just knew it was a good opportunity. They had no idea that 25 years later, it would be a hub of downtown Goshen as the Mill Race Center Farmers Market, better known as the Goshen Farmers Market.

The market is celebrating its silver anniversary summer season. It’s impossible to measure the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables that have made their way from local farms to local dinner plates via the market. It’s tough to quantify the businesses that have grown and thrived because of what happens at 212 W. Washington St. It’s also hard to measure the joy it brings people.

In the 1990s, Goshen was starting to change. As some downtowns were dying, Goshen’s was starting to thrive. Pottinger had renovated the South Side Soda Shop south of downtown and handed it off to family members to operate. Then he bought a building at the corner of Main and Washington streets that had an Arby’s in it. That became the first home of The Electric Brew, a coffee shop that started a transformation of downtown Goshen when it opened in 1996.

A few years later, Pottinger and Weaver purchased the former Big C Lumber site with three buildings. Beth Neff, who was operating a market in town, heard about it and approached Pottinger, wanting to open a farmers market in the main building facing Washington Street. (One of the buildings became home to Goshen Woodworkers Guild and the other was rented to other businesses. A fourth building was constructed for the Goshen Clay Artists Guild.)

Pottinger, now 94, says his response at the time was simple. “Who doesn’t want a market?” They formed a 501c3 called the Community Sustainability Project (CSP).

The market opened to the public in May 2000 with an innovative Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Shoppers select items from vendors to fill their baskets rather than growers making the selections. It was one of the first programs of its kind and is still a rarity. JoEllen Davis, who has managed the market as a part-time employee the last 10 years, says they communicate that it’s a $35 value and there are some limits, but the farmers, who get reimbursed for what people put in the baskets, like the program.

Pottinger recruited Rachel Shenk to move her European bakery to one end of the market as a separate business, and soon Saturdays were bustling with market shoppers and those getting croissants, baguettes and frittatas from Rachel’s Bread. Today, Canele Café offers similar items in the space.

The market's range of programs has grown. Maple City Health Care Center employees help their clients choose healthy foods at the market. The market is one of the state’s leaders in matching SNAP benefit distribution at farmers markets, with about $20,000 in food obtained through the program, including SNAP matches. On Tuesdays, the Sprouts Kids Club urges youngsters to buy fruits and vegetables for their families.

Since its inception, the market has been open 8am to 1pm Saturdays and on Tuesday evenings in the summer months. On Saturdays, the aisles are often full, but not bustling with urgency. Having conversations with vendors is part of the transaction.

“The most invaluable aspect of being this close to the farmers market is the connection we have with the farmers,” says Chef Jesse Shoemaker of Goshen Brewing Co., which opened just a block from the market nearly a decade ago. With larger, conventional vendors, Shoemaker and the brewery are at the mercy of what’s available. Because of the relationships built at the market, he can call Clay Bottom Farm for 5 pounds of basil or Sustainable Greens for edible flowers to go on a special offering.

The market gives people a chance to grow or make something and sell it. Vendors make and sell mittens, jewelry and other handcrafted items. The food is grown or produced within a 150-mile radius of Goshen (with exceptions such as for cheese and coffee sold by Rachel Shenk, who no longer operates a full bakery, but does sell items as a vendor.)

As many as 50 vendors a year rent booth space at the market for at least a short time. Some are there every week. Others rent space for a short time or during a holiday season. Many vendors are longtime fixtures. Some started at the market and grew into larger businesses, including Clay Bottom Farm, Blue Heron Farm and Soapy Gnome, a producer of hand-crafted soaps. Four vendors—Creekside Farm, Sustainable Greens, Fish Lake Organic Berry Patch and White Yarrow Farm— have been at the market since the first year. Kate Lind of Sustainable Greens has seen kids grow up and become customers themselves. “And the customers are wonderful,” says Lind. “It’s such a diverse group.”

The market continues to grow and has huge potential. Vendors say they need more space to accommodate the customers. Mattie Lehman, who went to the market with her parents as a child, is president of the CSP board, focused on sustaining and expanding the market. Its mission is to “foster local, sustainable practices to connect our community through food, art, and education.”

Pottinger touts the importance of guilds in Goshen and played a key role in starting six. In Goshen, the groups of artisans focused on a particular craft who share space include woodworkers, jewelry makers and clay artists. The potters have booth space at the market and conduct an annual fundraiser to benefit a local nonprofit that helps those in need of food and housing.

Board members are working toward expanding the market and its service to the community. They are discussing a new food guild that would establish space for people to make food in a licensed kitchen. More classes and additional market space are also part of the discussions. Planning is in early stages, but the board members are hopeful that they can create fertile soil for additional growth.

Goshen Farmers Market
212 W. Washington St.

Goshen, IN
574.533.4747

goshenfarmersmarket.org

Year-round Saturdays 8am–1pm
Tuesdays (May through October) 3pm–7pm

Marshall V. King is a writer and journalist based in Goshen, Indiana. Since 2000, he has written about Midwestern food and, for a time, served on the Community Sustainability Project board.