by Scott Blickfeldt
Consumers want the opportunity to get fresh goods at a relatively good price when grocery shopping. Visitors to the LaVell Edwards Stadium parking lot will get that opportunity in the next few weeks.
Once again, BYU Concessions is hosting a farmers market beginning July 28 from 3 to 8 p.m. in the LaVell Edwards Stadium parking lot. It will continue every Thursday except August 18, and will run through Oct. 28.
Though prices can vary and sometimes be more expensive than a local grocery store, farmer’s market consumers agree the quality is much greater.
Amanda Reynolds, the farmer’s market supervisor, said immediate access to farmers’ produce creates a fresher product.
“For us we have local farmers, and produce is picked daily and brought to the market that night,” Reynolds said. “For me the farmer’s market kind of separates you from the third person because it goes directly from the grower to the buyer, and then you know that that’s how they keep it fresh because you don’t have to ask questions like ‘how long has this been in the store?'”
After last summer’s success with the farmer’s market, BYU Concessions decided to host the occasion again this year. The goal for BYU is to make this particular farmer’s market special. Part of what will make the BYU farmer’s market a success is the time of year.
Aaron Black, the BYU Concessions manager, said the farmer’s market will center around the local farmers.
“I think that is one of the things that sets us apart from other farmer’s markets that other people can attend is that we are geared to the grower,” Black said. “There are markets that start in June, but there is no significant amount of produce coming out in June. We are committed to those selling produce they grow themselves instead of selling third party produce. That’s why the end of July seems to be the ideal time where the crops are really coming on locally, anything earlier than that is generally coming from somewhere else and that is not what we are trying to do. Local sustainability is what we are trying to focus on.”
Nancy Simonsen is the concessions office supervisor and said she remembers specific things from last year’s market that stood out.
“The Bookstore brought some of their own things,” Simonsen said. “Chef John would take items from all of the different locations from the farmers and he would put together recipes and he would make things out of all of the farmer’s produce. So there were a lot of people that would sit and watch Chef John do all of his cooking.”
At the farmer’s market last year there were arts and crafts, as well as other skills and trades that others performed firsthand such as clock-making. The farmer’s market last year was more than a way to get fresh produce. Black said members can also look at the farmer’s market as a social event.
“Attendance just grew last year,” Black said. “We found that people really love to come in the evenings, almost like a date night. We just noticed a lot of fun trends, we tended to get families and people with specific needs coming earlier in the day, and the evening tended to be more of a social atmosphere. You might see a husband and wife out on a date, or a man and a woman on a date, and they would just go around and get something to eat or buy some produce. It was just a great atmosphere, and that’s what we want to deliver to build the BYU community.”
