On Tuesday afternoons, the lawn at Washburn Park fills with tents, tables of fresh produce and baked goods, live music and, increasingly, familiar faces.
Now in its second season, the Washburn Trust Farmers Market was created with three purposes: to help support maintenance of the Charles R. Washburn Trust property; give local farmers and producers a place to sell their goods; and bring the community together, according to market manager and Trust President Meredith Mattson-Days.
That last purpose was easy to see Tuesday.
David Sanders of Rochester has participated in every market since it began last year. For him, one unexpected pleasure has been seeing people from his past.
“Just seeing all the people that I grew up with,” Sanders said. “It really surprised me how many people I went to school with” are still in the area and come to the market.
Valerie MacDougall and Laura Coggeshall are also back for the market’s second season. MacDougall grew up in Marion, and the two have known each other since first grade and spent years together at horse shows at Washburn Park.
For them, returning to the park is “a trip down memory lane,” MacDougall said, and a chance to see people they haven’t seen in years.
“It’s a treat for us to do this,” Coggeshall added.
Mattson-Days and her husband, Anthony Days, run the market as volunteers. She said proceeds are modest but help cover the Trust’s annual insurance and allow it to save toward future maintenance. Last winter, a tree fell on a building at the park and damaged the roof.
The market runs Tuesdays from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Vendors come from around southeastern Massachusetts, from Pocasset to Swansea, with one traveling from Falmouth. Their numbers fluctuate during the season, reaching about 25 at the peak and dropping into the teens as fall approaches.
Organizers shortened this year’s season by two weeks after learning from the market’s first year that produce and seedlings weren’t sufficiently ready at the beginning of the season. At the other end, crowds begin thinning once school resumes and daylight grows shorter.
Live music has also become part of every Tuesday market. Mattson-Days finds musicians through other markets and word of mouth. Performers are paid, with some funding coming from a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant and additional support from sponsors.
For shoppers, the market can be as much an outing as an errand.
Emily Letendre of Mattapoisett said she tries to come regularly with her two young children. Their priorities are straightforward.
“They like the chocolate chip cookies. That’s what they come for,” she said. A visit to the playground follows the shopping.
Another shopper, who recently moved back to the area after living on the Cape, found the market by searching for nearby farmers’ markets. She said supporting local farmers and buying fresh food brought her to Washburn Park. Tuesday was only her second visit, but she was already looking ahead to next year.
Mattson-Days said the market has developed a group of regular customers while continuing to attract new faces. Organizers are also learning how to improve the market as it develops. One lesson this summer was as straightforward as where to put the tents: food vendors need shaded locations during the hottest part of the season.
The Washburn Trust Farmers Market held its final market of the season on Tuesday, September 29.
By Jeanne Hopkins