BY TIMOTHY LAROCHE
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CLAREMONT — After months of uncertainty, the Claremont Farmers Market will run this year under the Claremont Parks and Recreation banner.
Vital Communities, a Vermont-based non-profit, announced on Wednesday that it will supervise Debbie Tardiff, new Farmers Market manager, while Parks and Recreation Director Mark Brislin is away on medical leave.
The announcement means Vital Communities will provide a vision for Tardiff to implement and paves the way for the market to launch just after Labor Day with several developments.
“Debbie is a great fit,” Vital Communities Farm and Food Coordinator Nancy LaRowe said. “She’s enthusiastic and organized … which are important for a manager.”
The decision follows nearly four months of discussions between Parks and Recreation Commission members, city staff and remaining members of the Claremont Farmers Market Association board of directors. Talks arose after nearly all members of the board of directors, then-President Terry Gould and then-market Manager Suzanne Hastings resigned hours after the Oct. 5, 2017 market closing.
In the years since the 2008 recession, market attendance dropped, bringing vendor profits with it. The local agricultural community took another hit in 2011 when Hurricane Irene deluged the area, eroding riverbanks and flooding farmland.
In a bid to rejuvenate the struggling market, the Claremont Department of Parks and Recreation was handed the reigns. Already, the department hosts several well-attended events each year. The search for a manager began last month, but was truncated after Brislin went on medical leave.
During a Feb. 28 City Council meeting, Brislin announced that the city would wait until summer 2019 to begin the farmers market, leaving a potentially year-long gap without any market.
But in the days following the announcement, LaRowe said, Vital Communities offered to assist in launching the market while Brislin is away.
“We offered to step in,” LaRowe said. “We’re already providing assistance … its fine with us if we supervise a market manager.”
With City Manager Ryan McNutt’s go-ahead, the organization assisted in hiring Tardiff and is working to reach out to potential vendors ahead of the launch date.
The new market will run Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., May 26 to Sept. 8 in the Visitors Center Park. The day and time were chosen during a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to shift the focus of the market towards offering more produce. Commission members said the new location, while less visible from the street, offers more vendor space, parking and a contained community feel.
Work is underway on promoting the new market, arranging entertainment and signage. LaRowe said she is also confident that work to license the market to accept debit card-like EBT benefits will prove fruitful.
“There’s a lot to happen, but I think it’s going to be great,” LaRowe said.
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