'This feels like a pre-COVID market': Iowa City Farmers Market is bustling on balmy season-opener
The Iowa City Farmers Market opened Saturday at the Chauncey Swan parking ramp and a closed portion of Washington Street. There was a bright energy as the sun shone down on vendors and shoppers alike.
The street and parking ramp were lined with vendors selling produce, meat, homemade goods and coffee. Food trucks, local businesses and political candidates all jockeyed for attention.
Laura Schwager, a former farmers market on-site supervisor, was aiding volunteers handing out tokens substituted for cash to use at market stalls. She said it was great to see so many people back out and enjoying themselves on a beautiful day.
"This feels like a pre-COVID market," she said. "It just feel like there's a calmer and more outgoing energy."
Schwager said that everyone's spirits seemed to be high with the nice weather and mask restrictions lifted. She said there are still some larger produce vendors who are not at the market because they did not have enough to sell.
"We've had a number of vendors for today's market back out. A lot of farmers and produce sales, because they don't have anything yet because the sun hasn't been shining and the weather hasn't been as conducive to growing fruits and vegetables," said Brad Barker, the Iowa City recreation superintendent and farmers market coordinator.
Barker expects these vendors to come in a week or two and thinks the outlook for the rest of the farmers market season is great.
The Iowa City Farmers Market, operated by Iowa City Parks and Recreation, runs from May until October at the Chauncey Swan parking ramp from 7:30 a.m. until noon every Saturday.
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Vendors adjust to insurance requirement and without Wednesday market
One of the larger changes to the Iowa City Farmers Market in 2022 is that the city chose to cut its Wednesday market.
The Iowa City Farmers Market debuted in August 1972 and has been an annual tradition since. The Wednesday evening market closed largely due to a small number of vendors signing up.
The market's opening was first delayed and then canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schwager said she thinks a lot of people are sad to see the Wednesday evening market go away, but said it could return depending on if enough vendors and customers show up.
"Unfortunately, we didn't have enough last year to justify going forward with that," she said.
Barker said vendors have generally been receptive to the Wednesday market being cut. It is Barker's first year overseeing the farmers market following Tammy Neumann, who he said always ran the market like a "well-oiled machine."
Besides the mask requirement being lifted and Wednesdays being cut, all farmers market vendors are now required to carry insurance. The Iowa City Council voted unanimously to make this change earlier in the year. Previously, only vendors with grills were required to carry insurance.
Dennis Rehberg, the owner of Rehberg's Pork out of Walker, Iowa, had his stall set up just inside the parking ramp selling bacon, roasts, chops, ground pork and other products. Rehberg is a sixth-generation farmer who raises livestock without antibiotics, steroids or hormones.
Rehberg said he has sold at the Iowa City Farmers Market for 15 years and has been making the rounds to other markets for even longer. In all those years he said the largest change has been the amount of food vendors outside the parking ramp, which has grown from one to dozens lining the whole street Saturday.
"Vendors come and go, but usually as far as the market goes, there's a lot more variety starting to show up in the last few years, like coffee and little things like that," he said.
Rehberg said he had never sold in Iowa City on Wednesdays largely because he spends much time during the week at other farmers' markets. He said he has always had insurance on his stall, so the new requirement hasn't affected him.
"It's a little bit more on the premium that I have to pay, but I can see the point. We're all here together in one space, so we might as well have (insurance)," he said. "There really hasn't been a situation come up where insurance is needed."
Fatima Saeed, the owner of Art for Peace, had her stall set up in the heart of the bustling market on Saturday selling bags and purses painted with art, potpourri and a type of pie called fatayer.
Saeed is a second-year vendor and also sells her wares at other farmers markets in University Heights and Coralville. She said operating a stall at the farmers market can be costly with renting the space, buying gas for her vehicle and the new insurance requirements.
"It's extra money. I didn't do it last year, but I have to do it and I have to pay the rent," she said. "Fortunately, I just sold one bag, so I get my rent back. But I still need to sell so I can buy my gas."
Claire Urig owns Better Things Candle Co. and is a first-time vendor at the Iowa City Farmers Market. She said she started making these candles during the pandemic and creates a wide variety of scents out of her home, such as a London-themed scent to smell like rain, Earl Grey tea and old books.
Urig said the Wednesday farmers market being cut doesn't affect her as much because she is busy during the week with her job and her child.
"I think that would be hard, if you're used to doing (Wednesdays). I think that would be a huge disappointment," she said.
Barker said many vendors already had insurance for their farmers market stalls, but the change has been more challenging for newer and smaller vendors.
"In the future we may be looking at ways that maybe we can help offset some of those costs, at least as an option that we'll pursue," he said. "We're still gathering feedback asking if this has been problematic for them, a burden for them and how much it costs so we can continue to provide equitable opportunities for the community."
George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen's local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at (515) 350-6307, GShillcock@press-citizen.com and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorge
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City Farmers Market has bright season debut, with a few changes
