'OK' turnout for Royal City market

Efforts to continue in community, coordinator said

ROYAL CITY — A Royal City farmers' market coordinator believes the big problem is getting the word out in her town.

"I think it was OK," Sharon Chesterman said of a farmers' market held Friday afternoon in Lions Park. "I talked to the vendors and they thought it was OK."

The market included six to seven vendors. Chesterman said she didn't know how many people attended the market.

"I think probably considering everything, we did have a good response," she said. "The big problem we have is getting the word out in Royal City."

Put on by Strengthening the Heart of Our Community, a Royal City-based group through the Horizons program funded by the Northwest Area Foundation, the market was intended to be a one-time event.

Jim Baird, whose group Cloud View Farms sold as a vendor at the market, would like to see the event continue.

"I think it's an opportunity for the community to gather more around one of the most important parts of our life, which is food," he said. "It's important for all of our local communities here in Grant County to get farmers' markets started, as food-miles become more and more of an issue in the marketplace."

Food-miles are how far food travels.

"In some places of the world now, food is being marketed as far as the number of food-miles it's traveled before it reaches the consumer," Baird explained. "One of the things we can do as consumers to lower our ecological footprint is to buy more local."

Baird said the market was successful from a start-up standpoint.

"We got Royal City people stopping by to see what it was all about and enough vendors to make it worthwhile, and a good showing for the first time," he said.

Chesterman thanked the people and vendors who were in attendance.

"I really do think this could happen in Royal City," she said. "A few people said to me, 'Maybe Saturday morning would be better, because it would be cooler,' because it was very, very warm."

Turnout was lower for a community potluck following the market, and a planned Neighborhood Watch meeting didn't take place, Chesterman said. Hot weather and conflicting information about the events' date may have contributed, she believes.

But Chesterman still found a silver lining.

"There were about four adults and children, and two of my grandchildren were there," she said. "One of the things we learned at Horizons was when you put people together, they have different skills and interests. For the potluck, people brought different things, and we had a good dinner, even though there were very few of us, because somebody brought meat, somebody brought salad and somebody brought dessert, just the four of us."

Chesterman said efforts will continue.

"We're going to keep trying in Royal City," she said. "Somebody said to me, 'Every farmers' market started out small.' And that's true. It's just now, we look at the big ones and think, 'Wow,' but every one, I'm sure, probably started small."