Tent Talk

Opening a new farmers market or starting a new season at an existing one is exciting. A lot goes into getting ready to launch, and building up to a truly grand opening. Building awareness and anticipation for both the community and your family of farmers and vendors means a busy opening day. Planning for the natural cycles of a new market will keep everyone's enthusiasm and commitment strong. New and established alike, there's no part of farmers markets that just happens. You make it happen and keep happening for your team and your neighbors. This episode of Tent Talk was originally recorded and broadcast in May, 2022. We thought it was worth an encore for long time listeners and a great way to provide newer followers with this valuable information, including:

• Scheduling an intentional opening date
• Getting the word out in all the ways
• Making shoppers feel welcome
• Understanding the natural ebb and flow of attendance
• Staging to maintain the excitement

This episode of Tent Talk is supported by Marketing for Markets, providing online marketing tools and tips to farmers market managers and participants.

Communicating with your farmers market community can take a lot of forms nowadays. Do you send emailed vendor advisories? Use a private Facebook or Instagram group? Smoke signals or carrier pigeons, maybe? One way or another it's important for farmers, vendors and managers that everyone stays in the loop. In this episode Catt and Brijet and Justine are joined by market directors Gina Johnson from Madison, Illinois, and Rebecah Boynton from Nashville, Tennessee. This episode of Tent Talk was originally recorded and broadcast in July, 2022. We thought it was worth an encore for long time listeners and a great way to provide newer followers with this valuable information, including:

• Subject lines that get your emails opened
• Why written communication is important
• Determining the right timing for reminders
• Facilitating conversations open to everyone
• Using social media platforms and tools

This episode of Tent Talk is supported by Vendor-101, providing online education to prospective market farmers and vendors and helping small businesses succeed.

What do farmers market people bring home from vacation? Our first stop is always is the local market, and farmers market merch is our favorite souvenir. Selling shopping bags, t-shirts, water bottles and magnets can add to your income stream and also provide a valuable marketing tool. Depending on local regulations, farmers and vendors can also use swag to remind people of where they found that amazing tomato or bread. Join us as Catt and Brijet discuss all the tips for how to produce and sell your memorable market merchandise (say that 5 times fast), including: • It all starts with shopping bags • Determining your real cost of goods • Creating effective designs and displays • Budgeting for lost inventory • Counting and reordering This episode of Tent Talk is supported by Square, providing simple, efficient ways to track inventory and make on-site sales.

Your Info or Welcome Booth is your market home away from home. It's often the place that shoppers and farmers and vendors find your team, where you sell fun merchandise, and where you process SNAP EBT transactions. All the things that apply to making farmers' and vendors' booths effective apply here too. Listen in as Catt and Brijet discuss how to make your Welcome booth, well, welcoming! Discover tips on: • Making your Info booth visible and attractive • Keeping your booth staffed or letting folks know when you'll return • Making sure your team provides a welcoming presence • Handling prospective applicants effectively • Why local restaurants should be feeding your team This episode of Tent Talk is supported by American Farmland Trust. If you haven't updated your market information in preparation for the next America's Farmers Market Celebration, do that today. And if you want to keep farmers farming, become a member now.

What project could you complete if you had funding? The deadline for submitting Farmers Market Promotion Program grants is just 51 days away. This week, we chat with Melissa Siwiec, executive director of Pennsylvania's historic Lancaster Central Market, about the process of applying for and then implementing an FMPP funded project. The process seems intimidating, and the rules and guidelines are rigorous. USDA is very clear about what's required, so priority number one is following instructions. Melissa's pro tips include: • Deadlines and required formatting are clearly stated and strictly enforced, don't try to skirt the rules • A plan and a goal come first, chasing funding for its own sake is not sustainable • Set some time aside, writing a winning proposal takes time and focus • Partnerships are a required piece of FMPP grants, identify compatible community organizations • Grant funding is released as reimbursements, you'll need reserves to get your projects started As Ben Feldman pointed out at last month's InTents Conference, plenty of types of activities are funded by Federal grants, none of them any more important or deserving than supporting farmers, farmers markets and food access. FInd more information and the FMPP grant application form by clicking USDA on the Resource Page at FarmersMarketPros.com Need one on one grant writing help? Contact Melissa Siwiec here. This episode is supported by Farmers Market University, helping market managers hone and certify their professional skills.

Moving a market is not as simple as scooting a tent or two down the street (not that scooting any tents is without drama.) Sometimes you lose part of your site to a construction project, sometimes a conflicting annual event happens and you have to move the entire market for a day. Finding a new site that can accommodate an established event is a puzzle. You know where the driveways and trees and giant dumpsters are at your current location. What surprises will your replacement venue hold? And how will your shoppers and vendors know where to go? Listen in as Catt and Brijet discuss the ways they've found to ease the pain as much as possible, while you're away from your home sweet home site, with tips on: • Identifying a replacement site • Surveying neighboring businesses and residents • Mapping to minimize disruption for your vendors • What wedding seating plans and market maps have in common • Timing your announcement to avoid confusion • Keeping regular shoppers in the loop and attracting new ones This episode of Tent Talk is supported by Square, helping farmers, vendors and market managers process payments and invoicing in the tents and at the desk. Don't miss next week's Live from the InTents Conference episode!

Are you a farmer or small food business trying to navigate finding spaces to sell at farmers markets? Are you a farmers market manager buried in application emails and trying to find the perfect needles in that haystack? In this episode we're chatting about how we process applications for our markets and approaches used by some of our fellow market managers. Yes, you can have an amazing product and still not be a perfect fit for a specific market. Learn how to narrow down your targets if you're a producer. Listen in to find ways to help a diamond in the rough shine if you're a market manager. Find tips on: • Telling managers everything they need to know about your business • Balancing your market's offerings • Application red flags • Helping new vendors launch successfully

Plenty of us have a love-hate relationship with social media.There's nothing like it right now for keeping shoppers up to date on market offerings days and times, and helping your farm or bakery stand out at a busy market. It's free, sort of. It takes so much time. It's so effective, until they change the rules. It's a trick to find the sweet spot between sharing honest views of your business and your life and maintaining boundaries. Listen in as Catt and Brijet discuss the best ways for market managers and vendors to work together to increase sales, including: • Specific tips for markets and farmers and vendors to amplify each other's posts • The challenges of outsourcing farmers market social media • Defining "free" and remembering that time is money • Using social media to make your booth a magnet at a busy market • Making sure all your eggs aren't in one basket, in case someone trips Need more marketing help? Check out our online Market for Markets class https://www.farmersmarketpros.com/marketing-for-markets

Farmers Julie of Stoner Family Farms has diversified her products to achieve better sales at her farmers markets. Her farm is a family operation, and the market business is her baby. Bringing her daughters into the tent helps lighten the load, and teaches them all the things that small business owners learn along the way. Listen in as Julie shares: • How she decides which markets work best for her • Where farmers markets land on the list of top income streams • Why she decided to diversify her product lines • Ways she's helping new market farmers improve their business Find Julie's blog with resources for market farmers at www.sffvalpo.com/blog