Market move

For the past 10 years, Karen Schwieterman has managed a stand at the Portland Farmers Market.

She loves the chance to provide fresh vegetables, showcase her produce and meet new people. She also enjoys hearing about where shoppers take the food.

“We used to have a truck driver come up there and buy my zucchini breads and freeze them because he (took) them on the road,” she recalled.

Schwieterman is among several vendors setting up shop every Saturday in The ROCK church parking lot, 1605 N. Meridian St. She’s noticed traffic through the morning is more consistent since the move from the courthouse.

Market masters Nick and Amy Ardizzone noted that there weren’t many visitors at the previous site. After security upgrades and COVID-19 closures, vendors realized they wouldn’t be able to access bathrooms at the courthouse.

Staff at the ROCK church — just east of the intersection of Meridian Street and Industrial Park Drive — offered to open their facilities to market vendors, and so the farmers market relocated. Nick Ardizzone believes it’s helped improve business.

“We’ve had some of the best Saturdays ever out there, and I think it’s because of the location,” he said.

Amy Ardizzone noted the location is easy to see from the road. She also thinks community members want to get out of the house after being cooped up for months.

And regardless of the weather, shoppers keep coming. Schwieterman mentioned attendees “braved the rain” to come to the farmers market a few weeks ago.

New vendors have also joined in, selling everything from cupcakes to wooden bowls. A few also sell handmade masks with a variety of designs and prints.

Schwieterman sells vegetables, baked goods and canned goods. She noted she loves learning recipes from others, which is how she started making some of her items.

Amy and Nick Ardizzone sell produce along with goat milk soap and goat milk caramel created at their farm, Apex Acres. Amy Ardizzone mentioned it’s a good place to make profit off a hobby without creating a full-fledged business. All products for sale are either grown or handmade in the community.

“In a world where everything is online now, it’s good to know we still support our local people,” she said.

She added that it’s a great place to buy fresh produce.

“When I bring produce to the farmers market, I’ve picked it either the day before or the morning of out of the garden,” she said. “So it’s a lot fresher (and) a lot healthier because it’s not grown en masse.”

Hannah Long, owner of the bakery goods company Bizy Dips, sells out of products at the market every week. She’s planning to open a central location for her business — along with a coffee shop — at John Jay Center For Learning sometime soon. She thinks it’s important to shop local to support the community.

“It’s good to just bring people together,” Long said. “Especially after everything that’s happened, I mean, I feel like people want to spend their money locally.”

Shoppers tend to arrive early, with some attempting to start shopping as soon as 7:30 a.m. before vendors have finished setting up. Items tend to sell out quickly after that, Nick Ardizzone said.

The Portland Farmers Market began in the middle of July, and it will continue through the end of October if the weather permits.

“Everybody should make it part of their summer to come down there at least once because we have something different every weekend,” he said.