Popular Farmers' Market on the Ropes

The well-known Coventry Regional Farmers' Market could close this year, possibly for good, if it can’t find a new home.

The market, which for the last four years has operated at the Nathan Hale Homestead at 2299 South Main St., in Coventry, is trying to move to a new site at 307 Silver St., in the same town, but is hitting a snag.

At the same time, the market, a nonprofit organization run by volunteers, cannot remain at its current site because it can’t reach an agreement with the Hale Homestead’s owners, Connecticut Landmarks, for a lease at the site.

The market, which will mark its eighth year this spring if it is able to reopen, has become a popular local food emporium that operates from June through October and draws at least half of its 75,000 patrons from outside its immediate area. The market operates every Sunday.

The award-winning venue arrived at its current crisis, ironically, after it won a national contest last year and was awarded an $80,000 post and beam barn by the American Farmland Trust. The market accepted the prize, and believed it had the support of Connecticut Landmarks to erect the barn at the Hale Homestead site, but later learned the agency wanted a new agreement before moving forward on that plan.

Negotiations on the agreement fell apart over some of the terms, including the fee Connecticut Landmarks wanted, said Winter Caplanson, executive director of the farmer’s market. Caplanson said the agreement would increase nearly threefold the $800 the market pays Connecticut Landmarks annually to operate at the site.

“Nobody’s getting rich here (at the market) and we just don’t have that kind of money,” Caplanson said.

The market was offered the Silver Street site and organizers drew up plans to construct its barn at the property. But Caplanson said she and other market leaders recently learned that those plans, currently pending before the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, could trigger a costly and lengthy review by the State Traffic Commission.  For the market to open by June, she added, organizers must know by the end of this month whether it will be able to move to the new site.  Vendor applications, she added, need to go out by February.

“We expected that by early January we would have our permit and we’d be ready to go.”

The Coventry PZC will continue a public hearing tonight on the market’s relocation proposal. If the agency approves a permit for the market, the state will decide whether a traffic study, estimated to cost as much as $25,000, is needed. The state involvement was triggered by a proposal in the market plan for parking for up to 200 cars.

Caplanson said time, and not just the cost of a traffic study, is the major hurdle going forward. If the state requires a study, or even takes a long time determining if one is needed, the market, she said, logistically won’t be able to open this year.

And that, she said, could spell the permanent demise of the market.

“We were a wonderful success and we’ve had a good run but we may just have to redirect our focus and attention on other local food programs.”

The situation has prompted one local group, the Edibles Advocate Alliance, to begin an online petition to save the market.

The market’s closure, Caplanson said, would represent a loss not to just the town or region, but to the state. With its free weekly events the market is more like a country fair than just a place to buy local fruit and vegetables.

“We don’t just host a farmers' market. It’s a free and unique experience, not just a place of commerce. It’s a place where people can come and see free demonstrations and hear free music.”