Butler City Farmers’ Market returns with revamped facility
The Butler City Farmers’ Market season begins with a bang each year, when its organizers invite as many vendors as possible to the facility on Shore Street to set up on its opening day. As vendors approached the farmers market barn as early as 7 a.m. Saturday, May 23, they found more space to set up, thanks to upgrades to the facility and parking lot done since last summer.
The facility now has 28 spots for vendors to set up, with most of the new additions being just outside the cover of the barn. The improvements to the parking lot were lauded by vendors and visitors alike Saturday, with the concrete being the first thing most of them noticed.
“I noticed they fixed the parking lot,” Amy Banyai, of Butler, who shopped at the farmers market with her daughter Saturday. “I was here a couple times last year.”
Bob Dandoy, Butler Mayor and coordinator of the farmers market, said the vendor lineup for the summer includes many returners and a few newcomers as well. Most of the produce vendors will come later in the season, once the weather is more optimal for their crops to grow. However, the crop of vendors Saturday had a lot to offer, from fresh hot foods to flowers to soaps to sweets and more.
The Butler Lions Club was once again stationed at one of the entrances to the market selling brooms. Art Black, a member of the Butler Lions Club, said the club will alternate weeks this year, but it will sell brooms throughout the summer to raise money for its the club’s causes, which mainly include assisting people who are visually impaired. He also pointed out the improvements to the building.
“I’ve been here quite a while but it’s nice,” Black said. “The concrete was a big improvement.”
Dandoy said the line for the market stretched around the parking lot before 8:30 a.m. Saturday, when the market was scheduled to open. He said the vendors who were selling Saturday gave him good feedback about the facility’s improvements, and it was as easy as ever for them to pull up to the garage doors that open on the sides of the barn to set up their booths.
Dandoy also said the first day of the market is meant to provide a warm welcome for everyone who plans to attend the market over the course of the summer.
“It just makes it a good atmosphere where everyone comes alive,” Dandoy said about inviting as many vendors as possible. “The response this year has been amazing.”
The market provides shoppers with local options to get supplies from — Banyai said she always seeks the “unusual” items, and had planned to load up on jelly at the market Saturday. But it also provides vendors with an outlet and a public-facing place to sell from.
The Sweet Gremlin is a bakery based in Petrolia, but its owners are planning to move the shop over the summer. The brick and mortar location will be closed while the owners, Matt and Jenn McConnell, move into a new location, with Butler being their first choice. But in addition to their online order capabilities, the McConnells will be at the Butler farmers market for most Saturdays of the summer to sell their sweets.
“We’ll be mainstays here,” Matt McConnell said.
The Butler City Farmers’ Market is open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Saturday through October.
