Swampscott market looks to produce

SWAMPSCOTT – It’s been a tough summer for the Swampscott Farmers Market, but committee members are working quickly to revive it before vendors start pulling out altogether.The market, currently in the middle of its fourth season, has had a dramatic decrease in attendance within the past few weeks. It is held Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Jackson Park.”It’s a vicious cycle,” said Swampscott Farmers Market Committee member Lisa Julien-Hayes. “Customers don’t come, and then the vendors don’t come.”Some vendors have started pulling out because it’s not worth the trip down for them,” said Julien-Hayes. “We have one vendor that won’t be coming back until September. They weren’t making enough money to pay for the trip here.”Committee members reached out through a blog post on the market’s website to find out why people hadn’t been coming. This past Sunday, following the post, attendance seemed to be on the upswing again, said Julien-Hayes.The committee had already known that the weather had been a major issue, said Julien-Hayes.”The weather was so hot, and we had a lot of thunderstorms,” she said. “It was not conducive to shopping outside. It has been really challenging for a lot of our growers too.”We had weather like that for three weeks in a row and then 90-degree days,” she said. “A few weeks ago we had to cancel the market for the first time ever.”After a few weeks of bad weather, people may have gotten out of the routine of shopping at the market, said Swampscott Recreation Director Danielle Strauss.”We had a rough start this summer,” she said. “I think people just forgot that the market is around.”Members of the community responded to the blog post, many voicing concerns that the market doesn’t begin early enough in the day.”A lot of people who come have little kids, and their day is halfway over by 10,” said Julien-Hayes. “Or a lot of people are already at the beach by then.””We have a lot of people who come after church,” said Strauss. “We would have to have a longer market for them. We need to have that discussion with our vendors.”The vendors are what make the farmers market what it is, said Julien-Hayes. Most of the people that come to the market are there because of their favorite vendors, she said.It varies, but on average there are about 24 vendors who attend each market, she said. Of the 24, four to five are produce vendors from local farms. There are also two meat and four craft vendors and a local seafood vendor from Marblehead.”Even though it’s raining, we still need to support our local farms and vendors,” said Julien-Hayes. “Our vendors still need to sell their products.””We do two other markets that are more successful,” said Chris Grant of Grant Family Farms, one of the four major produce vendors at the market. “It’s been a tough season. Compared to last year, it’s definitely been tough.”Grant wasn’t sure that he’d be able to keep supplying produce for the Swampscott market if the low attendance rates continued throughout the rest of the season.”As soon as one vendor pulls out, it’s like a domino effect,” he said. “I don’t want to make that choice.””We have our core group of vendors that have been with us for years, and I’m not as concerned about them,” Strauss said. “They know what our market is, and they will wait out the dips. It’s the new vendors I’m concerned about. We want them to stick with us.”Plans for different events to attract shoppers are in the works, including both family-oriented events and activities for adults.The market already offers activities for families and children, such as a rock painting activity that was offered last Sunday and will also be offered at this Sunday’s market.”I would like to do more adult activities,” said Strauss. “We could do cook-offs, which we are talking about.””A lot of the people that come to the market are single,” said Julien-Hayes. “I’d like to do some sort of singles event for them.”The Swampscott Farmers Market Committee will hold a meeting this week and