by Tom Gibson
That’s right. A Gardeners’ Market, not a farmers’ market. August 2019 will see the launch of what its founders believe will be the region’s first market in which only home and community gardeners, and cooks (and no professional farmers) can sell extra produce and flowers, as well as certain “cottage” products like baked goods that pass muster by the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture.
The Noble Gardeners’ Market, as it has been named, is tentatively scheduled to run for 8 to 10 weeks into early fall and take place on a mini-park at the corner of Roanoke and Noble Roads in the Noble neighborhood of Cleveland Heights. (See www.nobleneighbors.com for continuing updates.)
The inspiration for the market came to Brenda May, a leader of the Noble Neighbors community group from a small market she encountered in Wilmore, Kentucky, just south of Lexington, the state capital. “This market had only about 8 sellers,” she says, “but people came and stayed for hours.”
Some people came with just 20 tomatoes to sell from backyard gardens and one woman sold herb cuttings for a dime a piece. Some of the sellers wanted to make a few extra dollars, but others simply wanted to connect with the community.
Recalls May: “It was clear that the herb seller might not earn three dollars that day. So why was she there? It was about connecting with people, exchanging information, checking up on each other. That’s where I had the “aha” moment about community building and about not needing to have box loads of produce to make a successful market.”
To test the idea, May and a half dozen other members of Noble Neighbors tested the idea in late summer on three successive Saturdays from 10 AM to noon. The response was strong. Said Jill Tatum, one of the Noble Neighbors participants: “We learned that there was tremendous interest among buyers, that people loved to stay and chat with each other, and that our two-hour market time is perfect for both buyers and sellers.”
Although the Wilmore example started initial thinking, May and her Noble Neighbors colleagues are actually aiming higher. They are looking not only for participants whose highest priority is community connection, but also for home producers who want to use their skills to make extra money.
They are also looking for participants across the region, not just Cleveland Heights. So far, growers in South Euclid and Cleveland’s Hough Neighborhood have indicated interest.
“We need sellers,” says May. “The more sellers we have, the more customers we’ll be able to attract.”
Sellers will need to bring their own tables or ground cloth and must be able to make change for their customers.
“Right now,” she says, “we want potential sellers to start thinking. Since we know that gardeners start planning their gardens during the dark, snowy days of winter, we hope they will be thinking about the Noble Gardeners’ Market. How much they plant next spring will determine how much extra they will have to sell in late summer.”
The gardeners’ market has the enthusiastic support of the City of Cleveland Heights. Mayor Carol Roe says, “This idea for a community market is just the latest in a series of creative ideas from Noble Neighborhood that bring people together by ‘thinking green.’ We have high hopes that this market will become a landmark for the region.”
