The Great Falls Farmers Market offers an interesting outdoor shopping and dining options. The Market is held on Saturdays from 8:30 AM to 1 PM through the end of September. The city blocks off Park Drive from the corner of Park and Central Ave to the intersection on First Street for the market, which extends into the parks on either side of the road. The Market draws large crowds most weekends from all over the area and Canada.
A visitor to last Saturday’s Market would have encountered food on Park Street ranging from Hawaiian food and Poké Bowls to Açaí Bowls or more traditional street festival offerings. Walking through the parks, shoppers found welded art statues, engraved bowls, artisan lotions, candies, baked goods, hand-made clothes, 3D Printed toys, honey, and all manner of produce.
Michele Wynn, who has been helping organize the Market for the past 8 years, explains that the large draw is probably a result of, “The variety of vendors that we have. We have a lot of different food if you’ve walked around the market. I think the location. I think people love coming down here to downtown. You could spend all morning down here.” When I spoke with Michele, the Market had one of its larger weekends of the summer in full swing with 140 vendors. The average weekend has between 125 and 130, depending on the weather. She went on to explain that the Market is held “rain or shine” and that rainy days tended to draw fewer sellers and customers.
Kenny Thornton, who has been involved in running the Market for 18 years, explained that the market is popular because its organization is unique amongst other markets in the state. He explained that “most of the tours that come through are fascinated with the size of our market. If you go to Billings or Missoula or Bozeman, what you’ll find there their markets aren’t organized like ours… Our market is unique in the fact that everything is in one walking circle.” He went on to explain that the Great Falls event is particularly large, but is still set up in one location. The food’s here. The vegetables are here. The crafts are here. Other larger markets in the state are spread out in different parks and lots around their city. During my visit to the Market, I spoke with vendors from Missoula, Billings, Cut Bank, and other cities around the state, who had come to Great Falls to explore the local market and because their market was a particularly large one.
The size and centralization of the Great Falls Farmers Market impacts the weekly vendor offerings. Small business come from all over the state to sell at the Market. Michele indicated that they had drawn businesses from as far away as Texas, in that instance selling watermelons.
Vendors who are interested in selling their wares can visit http://www.farmersmarketgf.com to fill out the application and registration form. The reasonable rates for vendor spots, which can run as low as $10 for the day or $60 at the most. Kenny pointed out that the low cost provides opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to get started without a large investment. Kenny Thornton shared the story of a 14-year old girl who began selling baked goods at the Farmers Market one summer. “She kept increasing every week. She kept selling out.” He also shared the story of another young lady who plays music in the park for Market-goers. “We got a little gal that plays the violin. People just love it.”
The Great Falls Farmers Market has also started a Thursday Evening event that will run for the remainder of the summer. Check out their website or Facebook page for details. The final day to check out the Market is the last Saturday in September.
