In the town of Solomon Valley, Kansas, an old schoolhouse painted bright red sits in the roadside park. On Wednesdays during the summer, community residents begin to stroll the park at about 4 p.m. to support their local producers and buy groceries, crafts, and more.
“I’ve always taken a very serious role in the market,” said Mardy File, market secretary. “I did a lot of research of what other markets would do to try and help make our market better,” she said.
The Solomon Valley Farmers’ Market is celebrating their 13th season this year. They have been able to develop a following and build a community around their market and their market vendors. During the first couple weeks of the season they host about seven to nine vendors, but this usually grows to around 15 vendors throughout the season.
Even with their steady number of vendors, and a willing community of shoppers, they often have leftover food. “Some vendors work closely with the food pantry here in Mitchell County and the Beloit Ministerial Alliance if they have extra produce or goods that they couldn’t sell,” File said, "there's always that avenue for their product."
The market has also run fundraisers for the food pantry. “We would host a food drive and ask everyone coming to the market to bring something the food pantry was in need of,” File said.
Along with their initiatives for supporting their community, they also have some background music at the market. They have had violin and handmade drum players at their market for some entertainment.
With a dedicated community, it’s easy to wonder how the market responded to COVID-19. “I was thoroughly shocked last year when we had such a big turnout of people, I was kind of leery wondering how people were going to react with COVID and everybody in the community was really eager to participate in the farmers' market last year, and that was a good thing,” vendor Rebecca Jones said.