How to make a market when and where you need one

As many farmers likely will agree, selling at a farmers market has many benefits including connecting with potential customers one-on-one, selling at a higher price point than one could demand wholesale, and establishing your business in a particular community. But one of the greatest drawbacks is the sheer amount of time invested in attending and traveling to and from the market, especially if you live in a rural area. 

Our farm is located at about 6,500 feet in elevation in western Colorado’s rural Delta County, an expansive county, land-wise, with a population of only about 32,000. Our town has just shy of 2,500 residents. Although it celebrates a rich agricultural history, it has not had a consistent farmers market since we relocated here in 2016.

 

The authors’ customers have become “trained” that the market starts promptly at 8:30AM, and this is when the biggest “rush” occurs. By keeping regular, consistent hours, the authors have been able to develop a loyal following, and the flow of their market is much like that of a “regular” farmers market – busy early and then tapering.

 

For six growing seasons we traveled south to Ridgway, Colorado, in Ouray County for a weekly, 60-plus vendor farmers market — about an hour and a half drive from our farm. With development, tourism, never-ending road construction, and traffic, by 2023 it no longer was feasible to be a part of that market given our time investment. We hated to leave our well-established customer base, but as a small, two-person operation, being away from the farm for an 11-hour day felt like an eternity.

At the time, we had an existing small customer base in the town where our farm is located from when we had first started our business. For one season we attended a small, now defunct, local farmers market where we connected with a core group of folks that were interested in local foods, especially the organically grown products that we had to offer.

Then, during COVID, we ran a 60-plus person vegetable CSA in our town with word-of-mouth advertising. On top of this, as a result of the pandemic and the incredible growth and increased cost of living on Colorado’s Front Range and mountain communities, many people had started relocating to our area from Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, and other towns to work remotely.

 

Just as if their booth was set up at a “regular” farmers market, a banner with their farm’s logo is displayed and the booth is kept clean, tidy, and inviting. Their approach may be casual, but their execution is formal. All photos courtesy of the author.

 

What had been a largely rural agricultural and retiree community just eight short years ago when we relocated had transitioned to an area that now included more families, professionals, and potential customers that had a taste for organic, local produce and blooms and a desire to support small businesses such as ours. Given these changes, we felt confident in 2023 that the time was ripe and our customer base large enough that we would transition the sales focus of our business closer to home. But how, you might wonder, without an established farmers market?

While I know that many rural farms have had success with roadside stands, this was not in the cards for us as we have a shared driveway with a neighbor and logistically it would not work. Instead, we decided to start a weekly pop-up market in a highly visible downtown location. While we call it a pop-up, it is more of a hybrid between a farmers market and a true random pop-up market.

We set up on a weekly basis (rain or shine) in front of a beautiful mural painted by a local artist. We have now operated our pop-up market for two seasons, 2023 and 2024, from May through October. Next season we plan to open a month earlier to accommodate for our growing spring flower business.

To start our pop-up market, we first identified a good location. For us, this meant a highly visible spot with easy and plentiful parking. Our market takes place on our town’s Main Street where the speed limit is just 25 so traffic is moving slowly and passersby can easily spot us. We are calculated in our market display, so that buckets of our flower bouquets are set up on the tables closest to the road. We have found they certainly catch the eye and draw in customers.

 

Melissa and her husband Cale in their Pop Up Market booth. They run a slim operation, but have found that having a Pop Up Market close to home (rather than a farmers market located hours away) frees up many hours that they can spend doing other necessary work.

 

Next was developing a solid relationship with the business and property owners where we set up. As with just about everything with a small business, clear and timely communication, discussing expectations and ironing out all details ahead of time was imperative. Being a small town, we knew many of the downtown business owners, but the location that we ultimately settled on was adjacent to a family-owned retail shop that sells all Colorado-made products and gets regular foot traffic.

Our businesses are complimentary, but not overlapping, and we share many of the same business values and a dedication to our community. We like to think that we help draw business into each others’ businesses so the relationship is symbiotic.

This step did not take much effort on our part, but it is also key to communicate with the local government and/or town officials where you will be doing business. Research and identify any permits and licenses that you might need, and simply let the authorities know your plans. Small businesses are what bring character, charm, and distinction to rural communities. They want to see you succeed and will likely be very supportive as you get your venture off the ground, at least that was our experience.

Ours no longer requires one, but some towns require Business Licenses. These typically are inexpensive, easy to obtain, and good for one year. Also, some cities (again, not ours) in Colorado are considered a ‘Home Rule City.’ Under this classification, businesses are required to pay sales tax directly to the town/city government and not to the state on one’s regular return. It’s important to be privy to these details to make sure that you are in accordance with all rules and regulations before doing business.

 

The authors set up their booth in their downtown in front of a beautiful mural painted by a local artist. The mural celebrates their town’s rich agricultural heritage as an area renowned for its orchards and delicious high-altitude fruit.

 

Not only can you save yourself some headache in the long run by taking care of these oh-so-important details, but these are good relationships to forge and alliances to have with a town manager, administrator, and/or economic development authority. I know for us, this has translated to marketing support in the way of social media and listing our events in the monthly town calendar that is mailed out with utility bills.

Finally, building the buzz through various low-tech, budget-friendly marketing strategies has been critical to our success. Arguably our greatest marketing tool for the market is our newsletter. We use MailChimp to send out a weekly newsletter the day before market. We like to use this as an informative measure to let our customers know what products we’ll have at market that week, what products are on their way in upcoming weeks, recipes for lesser known crops, and advertise upcoming events that we will be offering or participating in. We routinely have a pretty successful opening rate of our emails, averaging between 65 to 70 percent so we feel that it’s well worth our time to utilize this means of communicating.

We also use the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram to market. We do not do any paid “boosts,” but find some success in attracting new customers by sharing our posts on our town and county’s Facebook message boards. And, finally, we use good ol’ color-printed flyers posted around town and word of mouth. I have made a point of becoming involved in community and town organizations where I can spread the word and have casual conversations with fellow business owners and potential customers alike.

We have found many benefits of this sales channel, but probably the most important is simply being close to home. It is SO convenient! We save on gas, wear and tear on our vehicles, time, and a multitude of other resources. If you forget something (which will happen to even the most seasoned market veteran), you can bounce home to grab it. If you are slow, you can divide and conquer with one person running back to the farm to work.

The duration of our pop up market is just 2.5 hours, which combined with set-up and break-down, equates to only about 4.25 hours compared with what was an 11-hour day at a market far away from home. Did I mention how convenient it is?!

We also use our pop-up market as our local CSA pick-up location so this pop-up market model increases our efficiency. It also means that CSA members have the opportunity to purchase other items and offers us the convenience of not having to establish another CSA pick-up location. Additionally, there is an exceptionally low overhead to this model. We offer veggies and flowers to the owner of the shop where we set up, but there are no weekly (or seasonal) market fees.

Probably my favorite part of selling this locally is the community aspect. We connect with our neighbors on a weekly basis, and we truly feel like our town’s farm. We feel there is an intangible benefit to both us and our customers that is impossible to quantify — being there to answer questions on a product or share a recipe or simply get to know one another. It is a social experience, and there is a genuine, authentic relationship that develops with your customers when selling directly to people who live nearby.

Along this line, most of our customers live within a 10-mile radius of where we grow, meaning there is very minimal carbon footprint attached to our food and flowers. I recently heard on the news that a typical carrot travels 1,800 miles to reach an American dinner plate. Not only do we offer our customers an organic option (albeit not certified), but by selling in our town, we provide our customers an option with drastically reduced food miles and an opportunity to support environmental health and sustainability that may not otherwise be available to them (especially since there isn’t a traditional local farmers market in our town). 

This model is not without challenge. Being a small town, we are beginning to feel that we may be nearing a saturation mark and are developing a plan to move the product that we grow but cannot sell at our pop up. Already this has led us to explore selling wholesale to a small grocery in a neighboring town and also to offer fermentation workshops to utilize some of our product that otherwise would not have a home.

You also do not have anyone else doing marketing for you with this model. Chances are your farmers market fees go to pay a market manager who spends a good deal of time spreading the word and marketing your event. Not only will you be doing all this yourself, but you do not have the added benefits of being at a well-established market with a well-established customer base. It can be a bit of an uphill climb at first. 

What I miss most about not being in a more traditional farmers market is that there is not friendly, healthy competition and connection with other producers. It’s good to feel inspired watching how others do things, or to have another farm to send someone to if you’ve sold out of greens already, or to commiserate with when in the trenches of the season. There are so many benefits to this camaraderie that I did not even realize until they were not there.

Overall, the benefits outweigh the challenges, and we are thrilled with our decision to start and continue our pop-up market. The feedback has been largely positive, and we’re confident that it was a solid business decision for us. I have identified the keys to our success:

Consistency: Like a regular farmers market, we are there rain or shine, wind or hail. Our hours are set, even when we’re slow. We want our customers to know that they can count on us being there when we say we’re going to be, and this, in turn, has helped us develop a loyal following.

Professionalism: We set up an attractive display that is eye-catching, just as we would at a regular market. Our banner is hung, our brand is visible, pricing is clear, and the display is tidy and clean.

Connection with community: This is the most incredible opportunity to be the face and voice of your business. I make it my mission to greet, make eye contact with, and introduce myself to all new-to-me customers. I ask them their name and thank them for coming. With our regulars alike, I aim to make them feel like friends because, well, they are! This connection and creating an inviting, inclusive space is what makes our pop-up market thrive.

Patience: Know that it may take time, but that sustainable growth will happen with a quality product, by showing up authentically for your customers, and dedication.

In closing, our weekly Pop Up Market has allowed us to save money, time, and resources by staying closer to home, while also deepening relationships and exposure in our hometown community. If you enjoy the interaction of a farmers market and the cultural act of selling direct to consumer, but are feeling drained by the whole production of a farmers market, we recommend giving this sales channel a chance. Maybe try it out as a mid-week outlet to move some of your product in a quieter, more relaxed environment, or go all in and give it your best as your main market. This is a fun, grassroots-y way to spend more time doing what we all love in the field while still maintaining a strong connection with your most captive direct-to-consumer audience.

 

Melissa Newell is co-owner of Ultreia Farm & Wellness in rural Cedaredge on Colorado’s Western Slope. Growing in a high altitude, desert climate, together with her husband, she farms about an acre of specialty vegetable crops and cut flowers. In addition to a Pop Up Market, she coordinates three flower CSAs throughout the year. Learn more about Melissa and her farm at www.ultreiafarmandwellness.com or follow her on IG or FB at @ultreia.farm.wellness.