Farmers market: Q-C craft makers get a new season

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By Tory Brecht | Friday, October 10, 2008 4:17 AM CDT | () comments

Barb Pethoud stacks cookies Wednesday in preparation for packaging at her home near Long Grove, Iowa. Pethoud is one of the vendors that will kick off the year-round, once-a-week permanent indoor market at the Freight House on Nov. 1. A few vendors have grumbled about the $1,500 stall fee (compared to the relatively inexpensive $150 fee for the outdoor, seasonal stall fees). Buy this Photo

Jelly makers, canners, craftmakers, poultry producers and other home-based entrepreneurs are gearing up for the fall harvest season.

Those participating in Davenport’s inaugural weekly, year-long indoor market in the Freight House will be paying a much higher price than they did for outdoor stalls during the June through October season.

The indoor market kicks off on Nov. 1.

Securing one of the 30 or so indoor stalls — which are either 5 by 10 feet or 10 by 10 feet — will cost $1,500 for the year. Last year, when the indoor market was being tested out and was held only once a month, the fee was $15.

Outdoor spots this summer — the size of one parking spot in the Florian Keen lot — were $150 for two days a week June through October.

“That was practically giving it away,” said Darcy Rostenbach, who plans on selling her Full Circle Soap line each week at the indoor market. “I think the price might keep a few of the smaller vendors away, and that’s a shame. But we are small businesses and we have to look at the price compared to rents downtown. We have to look at ourselves as business people, not hobbyists.”

If the vending fee didn’t cover utility costs, heating, bathroom cleaning and other operating costs at the Freight House, Davenport taxpayers would be on the hook, said Steve Ahrens, the Levee Improvement Commission development director who assumed temporary control over the downtown Farmers Market this summer.

“This space, 5,000 square feet in the Freight House, must be paid for,” he said. “It is the goal to have a year-round, indoor/outdoor farmers market and there’s a lot of vendors interested in that. The cost must be borne by vendors, not taxpayers.”

The price hasn’t dimmed interest, Ahrens said.

“I think demand will be high, there’s a lot of interest already,” he said. “I have a dozen applicants interested already.”

Two of those will be Steve and Barb Pethoud, who grow and produce various goods on their rural Long Grove farm.

Barb’s Garden and Pantry sells homemade jams and jellies, fruit butters, fudge sauce, granola, artisan bread, cookies and other goods.

Barb Pethoud said the stall fee may seem steep to some, but as someone who travels to farmers markets around the Midwest as she does, it seems reasonable.

“For us, this is a business,” she said. “You need to spend a little bit of money to make some money. This is really a bargain, no matter how you look at it.”

Having an indoor market will only increase the demand for locally produced goods by Quad-City consumers, Pethoud said.

“In larger metro areas, St. Louis, Milwaukee, (indoor markets) are very successful,” she said. “We’ve been in the Freight House and looked around. It’s a little rough around the edges, but if they get some paint on the walls and get the floor fixed up, it will be real nice. The fact the city is supporting it going year-round is a good idea.”

Rostenbach said those “fix up” type of projects will be paid for through the stall fees. Improvements include removing old floor tiles, painting walls and other updates.

“The goal is to make it look a little more permanent,” she said.

The fee wasn’t arrived at in a vacuum, she and Ahrens said.

A survey was sent out to all the summer vendors, inquiring about their interest in the indoor market and asking what a fair stall price would be.

“This is what we came up with,” Rostenbach said.

Ahrens pointed out that dividing the $1,500 by the 52 Saturdays the market will be open makes the per-day rent $28.85.

“This is, in effect, business incubation,” he said. “You have to look at it in terms of the surrounding going rates as well. This is a communal market, so it’s a little different than a regular storefront, but I feel it’s very reasonable.”

Meeting

Shortly after Oct. 18, Steve Ahrens will happily cede control of the downtown/Freight House farmers market operations.

Ahrens, the Levee Improvement Commission’s development director, was put in charge of reorganizing the market after it split prior to the summer season.

Some vendors from the combined River City and Mississippi Valley Growers markets moved to NorthPark Mall when they couldn’t come to terms with new rules laid down by the Levee Commission. Ahrens was tasked with organizing those that remained.

However, at a 2 p.m. meeting on Oct. 18, downtown vendors will meet to nominate individuals to be on a 12-member board of directors. The board will be made up of six market vendors, a Levee Improvement Commission member, someone from the Downtown Davenport Partnership, a staff member from the Freight House businesses and a downtown business owner.

“I think it will keep things fair and give vendors a voice, which we didn’t have before,” said Darcy Rostenbach, one of the vendors who previously complained that leadership of the River City and Mississippi Valley Growers boards refused to hear input.

Tory Brecht can be contacted at (563) 383-2329 or tbrecht@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.