Tuesday, July 14, 2009

I'm Boycotting the Rogue Farmer's Market

I'm still pretty irritated that another farmer's market opened on the very same day as the Bartlett's, and that the new rogue market seems to have situated itself in such a place as to siphon customers from the Bartlett. I corresponded with someone from the Bartlett, who wrote: "We too, are very upset and bothered that a for profit business has taken business away from us a non-profit. The Arboretum does not make any money from the market, instead we opt to offer people a reason to visit our beautiful property and find out more about us and we believe that supporting local farmers compliments our mission of promoting sustainable practices. Our market is held on Wednesdays because we do not charge gate admission on that one day of the week."
I do understand that competition is a way of life, but it is still beyond me why the city did not choose a different day for the new market at the High Ridge shopping center by Borders.

Q and I have a baby class (followed by a long leisurely lunch for the Moms!) on Wednesdays, so we won't make it to the Bartlett market for another month and a half, but I'm going to try to make it up there near the end of August. The Bartlett is so beautiful, a great place for a FREE picnic on Wednesdays... can't wait to buy a pie there.

7 comments:

patty said...

The sponsors of the rogue market are the merchants in the strip mall on High Ridge. Tell them what you think. I believe Peter Suchy Jewelers took the lead with the market, and chose to stick with Wednesdays despite the obvious conflict with the Bartlett.

Unknown said...

A jeweler sponsoring a farmers market???
enough said.

You Missed Your Calling said...

Thank you -- I am so glad to hear someone else upset about this. Everyone that I have mentioned this to just seems to shrug their shoulders and says, "eh" to me. This is really egregious of these merchants to so blatantly undercut a non-profit's already established clientele. (And to top it all off, they have invited one of the vendors who who dis-invited from the Arboretum because not all his produce was grown in CT.)

Unknown said...

There seems to be some hub bub going at the HD about this. They have licenses, but something is happening.

irenesbooks said...

I'm boycotting them too. And the Farmers' Market at the Arboretum has acquired a second farmer.

Silli said...

High Ridge/Bartlett. What's the difference. What we really need is a weekday farmer's market downtown.

Anonymous said...

We're members at Bartlett and I just received this mass e-mail from them:

Dear Members and Friends of the Bartlett Arboretum,

As many of you know, last year we began a Farmers' Market in the summer months. Our goals in hosting the market were: to offer people another reason to visit our beautiful property and find out more about us, and to support local farmers thereby fulfilling our mission of environmental responsibility. Our market is held on Wednesdays because we do not charge admission to the property on that one day of the week.

Our first year's market was successful! Having ironed out the kinks from the first year, we set out to make the second year an even more enjoyable experience. We moved the market from the parking lot to the lawn area, added new vendors, and provided music. Despite these efforts, our farmer's market attendance has dropped. Perhaps this is because another farmers' market started up this year not 2 miles from the Bartlett on the same day and at the same time!

Connecticut's farms and non-profit organizations like the Bartlett need your support. Please stop by our market tomorrow and every Wednesday through September 9, from 10am-2pm. For more information on our market and vendors visit www.bartlettarboretum.org or call 203-322-6971.

Tomorrow July 30, stop by the Bartlett table and enter your name for a chance to win a free family membership to the Bartlett Arboretum (value $75.).

Thank you,
The Staff of the Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens