Farmers market to open Saturday

The growing Tucumcari Farmers Market opens for the season Saturday with at least two new vendors and activities for children and adults.

Organizers for the market at Wailes Park will ring the bell at 10 a.m. to signal to vendors they can begin transactions. Customers are allowed to inspect merchandise at 9:30 a.m. and get in line at booths where they want to buy before the starting bell.

The market Saturday will stay open until noon, but manager Sandra Groves said potential customers shouldn’t delay in getting there promptly. Based on past experience, she said a few vendors will sell out in about an hour.

Until mid-October, the market will open each Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon and each Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Wailes Park on east Route 66 in Tucumcari.

Groves said in-season vegetables that should be offered Saturday include zucchini, yellow squash, onions, greens and cucumbers.

Groves, in her fourth year of managing the market, said it was lucky to draw 175 customers on a typical Saturday when she first assumed her post. The Saturday market now draws at least 275 and can top 300. The Tuesday market also has swelled from about 50 to 60 customers to 100.

“It’s really grown,” she said. “People have learned the local food is fresher and healthier.”

Groves added the Tucumcari Farmers Market doesn’t strictly forbid vendors from using pesticides on produce, but they’re “conscientious” enough to voluntarily not use such chemicals.

Two new vendors have signed up for the new season, bringing the total number to about 10 so far, Groves said. One new vendor will offer frozen beef from the Tucumcari area. Two 12-year-old girls from Tucumcari making crepes and snow cones will run the other booth.

Groves listed events that will occur at the market’s opening Saturday:

• Raffle tickets for prizes for one adult and one child will be sold. The winning child will receive a wheelbarrow, pots, dirt, a hummingbird feeder, seeds, garden tools, a garden hose and nozzles. The winning adult will receive a large metal planting tub on a stand, water cans, a garden hose, seeds and gardening gloves. Tickets will be $1 each or six for $5.

• It will host a program where children will can plant their own flower and vegetable seeds and take them home. A table also will offer coloring pages for kids.

• The market will host a giveaway of dozens of books, including several about gardening and soil improvement.

• Southern Flavor, a Tucumcari-area bluegrass band, will perform.

• Free hot dogs will be served, with water and soda costing $1 each.

The Tucumcari Farmers Market accepts food stamps, including EBT cards. It also offers gift certificates in increments of $5.

Those who wish to keep up with what will be offered each week should consult the Tucumcari Farmers Market page on Facebook. Prospective vendors should call Groves at (575) 461-8499.