New Canaan Farmers Market Approved for April 20 Opening

The Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting approved use of the Lumberyard Lot downtown for the New Canaan Farmers Market for the upcoming season.

The Farmers Market will be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays from April 20 to Dec. 21, following a 3-0 vote by First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll at their Feb. 20 meeting.

“The farmers and the vendors are actually anxiously getting ready to get out there and be back to the community,” Market Master Lexi Gazy of Oxford-based Gazy Brothers Farm said at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “This will be our 26th season, so that’s a pretty good achievement to have a farmer’s market that long. And we’ve expected to increase the market this year a little bit with a few extra vendors. We love the non profits in town and we’re expanding to maybe a non profit or two to get Connecticut organizations involved. And the artisans love to come out. People have really given us good support through the years, so we’d like to be back.”

Murphy Carroll asked how vendors apply and receive approval to reserve a table at the market. 

Gazy said that prospective vendors fill out an application and that they must be a Connecticut-based business that carries insurance and is properly licensed. 

“And then if they do qualify and there is a space and their items are complementary to what we already offer, then I send them an application and then we go from there,” Gazy said. “The fees are minimal. I try to keep them at a minimum. I work on a shoestring budget because a lot of the small businesses are hurting and we all have to stay alive. So I manage the market as minimally as I can, and they come and they set up and they all obey our rules as much as we can and everybody gets along and it’s a great time.”

Gazy added that she keeps a waiting list of applicants. Food vendors must also apply to the local Health Department ($75), Gazy said, while farmers pay $400 per 10-by-10 space per season ($500 for non-farmers).

Carlson asked how vendors are designated into specifics spots at the Lumberyard Lot.
Gazy said, “We’ve been doing this so long that the regular vendors have their spot from previous years. And we keep that way. And then as I have vendors pull out, then there’s empty spaces for new vendors.”

Karl asked whether the Farmers Market monitors traffic flow on Elm Street when it backs up on very busy days.

Gazy said, “We haven’t monitored it because nobody’s brought it to my attention that it was a problem.” 

She added that the lot has three entrances and exits “so that is a huge help.”