Tent Talk

Inviting young people to vend at your farmers market can foster a new generation of market entrepreneurs and delight your community. Sure, there are challenges. It can be a trick to be sure that kids meet permit requirements. Their grown up is probably going to have to sign for insurance. Figure it all out and watch as family and friends come out to support the youngsters and maybe get hooked on farmers market shopping for the long term. Listen in as we consider:

• Exploring local regulations for under age vendors
• Deciding whether friendship bracelets fit your farmers market
• Providing sales tips and training to kids
• Making sure your consistent vendors benefit too

Whether you're a farmer, maker or market manager, if you have a team, providing them with feedback will make their work life and yours better. It doesn't have to be awkward or uncomfortable to discuss workplace performance. (OK, sometimes it can be.) If you've provided employees with expectations and the tools to meet them, this is just a checkup. We're talking today about how we make these chats productive for everyone involved, including:

• Giving people a chance for self evaluation
• Hire in a hurry? It's never too late to share job descriptions.
• We're all motivated by know the why behind processes
• Bosses can benefit from feedback too: listen!

What could be a more fitting fundraiser for a market organization than a dinner featuring local chefs and farm fresh ingredients? Organizing a farm to table dinner or a cultural food festival is a little different than coordinating a farmers market. Kasi Haire of Nolensville Farmers Market in Tennessee assures us that much of the skill set is the same: planning, staffing, renting equipment and marketing. Listen in to hear how and why her market keeps finding new ways to help people do good by eating well, including:

• The pros and cons of serving dinner on a farm
• What to consider when budgeting for your event
• Why fundraising is just one of the goals
• How to use special events to incubate new vendors

Bookkeeping is yet another of the many hats that farmers market managers wear. There are so many formulas for setting space rent at markets and, especially post-Covid, a whole variety of ways to manage calculating and actually collecting those fees. Do you use a market management program with built in invoicing? Are you adding up percentages of sales and handling cash at the market? Either way, there's plenty to consider and to communicate to make sure things run smoothly. Let's talk about:

• Pros and cons of flat fees and percentage of sales rates
• Calculating processing fees vs labor costs
• Reimbursing for nutrition incentives
• Understanding penalties for missing markets or late payments
• Building trust with clear communication

How do you learn and grow in your farmers market career? We met Jessica Mullen of South Carolina's Travelers Rest Farmers Market when she traveled to San Diego for InTents, the national Farmers Market conference. In this episode of Tent Talk, Jessica shares what she finds valuable about InTents and other conferences and networking with other market professionals. She's all about learning, and also about offering educational opportunities at her market.

Listen in for Jessica's tips on:

• Interactive programming for kids
• Simple cooking classes at the market
• Using data to educate your community
• Funding education for farmers and vendors

What's new and exciting, and what's comforting and familiar about InTents, the multinational Farmers Market Conference? Join us for a quick look ahead to what's in store in March 2025. What's NEW:

• 2025 Theme: Speak Up for Farmers Markets!
• Brand new venue with rooms and meeting spaces under one roof
• Central location with shops and restaurants and the beach nearby
• Break out tracks for new and experienced market managers
• Special sessions for market farmers and vendors

What's FAMILIAR:

• Speed-friending session lead by Cara Mae Wooledge
• Making your market or business financially sustainable
• Tons of networking time with people who get you
• Local food, inspiring talks, (mostly) sunny San Diego

While working for a cheese maker at New York City farmers markets, Peter Henry started thinking about ways producers could expand their reach and increase efficiencies. Now, Ten by Ten Logistics serves more than a dozen farmers at markets throughout New York. Peter continues to explore and refine systems of transporting goods to market, managing inventory and using staff based closer to the market than the farm. Listen in to hear what kinds of coordination help farmers sell at more markets and still have time to farm.

• Separating packing and driving from farming, setting up and selling
• Palletizing so the tent weights are on the truck and the Square is charged
• Training farmers' own city-based employees on best market practices
• Creating compensation models that benefit everyone involved

It's another Ask the Pros episode this week, with a mix of topics based on listener questions. We always find that discussing one person's question helps others that are pondering some variation of the same thing. If we don't necessarily have THE answer, we have ideas and experience and those might inspire your handy solution. There's nothing quite like the hive mind. This week we're talking about these questions and more: • Where can farmers find online tutorials for building effective marketing displays? • How do market managers control political campaigners at the market? • Can we help farmers kick the plastic bag habit? • What does it actually cost a market to facilitate EBT use? And last but not least, could a chicken salad donut be a thing? We'll have to check with the sourdough wizards at Slow Rise.

The fourth quarter rolls around every year, but somehow we often forget what to do to prepare for it. Listen in as we chat about moving past the September slump. We're looking forward and making plans to make the upcoming season more productive and less stressful. How are you getting ahead of things?

• Reminding farmers and vendors that this cycle happens every year
• Planning ahead for necessary off days
• Using slow days to experiment with new displays and systems
• Recognizing that you can do anything, but maybe not all at once

#farmersmarket #holidaymarkets #popupmarkets #marketvendors #smallfarmers #marketmanagerlife

Managing a farmers market is just like managing a craft fair or fall festival, right? Yes. And no. There are similarities and there are big differences between coordinating vendors on a weekly basis and once a year. When experienced annual event managers Patricia and Brett Keller took over a local farmers market after the sudden departure of its founding manager, they learned a few things. Are you a large scale event coordinator thinking about taking on a farmers market, or a market manager planning an annual fundraiser? Listen in while they share those lessons, including: • Ease into changes to an established market to avoid mutiny • Relationships are key to both kinds of events • A permit is a permit is a permit, right? Not always • Recruiting help once a year is different than weekly staffing Today's episode of Tent Talk, the Farmers Market Podcast, is supported by InTents, the National Farmers Market Conference.