McQuown provides farmers market recap to council

Co-Manager of the Red Oak Farmers Market, Maggie McQuown, gave an end of the season recap to members of the Red Oak City Council at the Monday, Oct. 17 meeting. McQuown said even though the regular season ended in September, there will be a holiday market Nov. 22 and a Christmas Market Dec. 15. These events will be held at the Red Oak Public Library unless a more suitable location can be found. Montgomery County Farm Bureau was the market’s main sponsor for the second year in a row. This is in addition to the largest number of sponsors the market has ever had; separate from the 13 entertainment sponsors. The market also had a record setting year for the number of vendors with 13 full-time seasoned vendors, five part-time season vendors, six weekly vendors; one in-kind vendor and $855 in vendor fees. Five of the markets vendors are certified in the Iowa Farmers Market Nutrition Program; the largest number in any southwest Iowa market, McQuown said. Only three markets experienced bad weather, McQuown said, with one rainy market being the best market of the season. Many patrons are local who attend weekly, but several come on the weekends from out of town. They comment Fountain Square Park is a beautiful place to hold the markets. There was live music for 14 of this year’s markets, which added a “great deal” said McQuown. Food trucks were also added this year, which included Italian, Thai, Mexican and American food. New this year as well as a kid’s corner. In areas of improvement, McQuown said there was a shortage of produce vendors this year. “We lost four or five prior vendors for various reasons and I was a horrible year for gardens,” she said. “A lot of customers were discouraged there was so little produce in the early markets and I think that hurt our traffic the second part of the season.” The distance between the stage and vendors is also something McQuown wants to change next year. Vendors like the northeast corner of the park, where it is the most shaded. It also offers the most convenience for patrons who have mobility issues. One of the entertainment groups this year opted to set up by Freedom Rock instead of the stage, which made it a much more cohesive market. The development of a “foodie culture” is something McQuown would also like to see. She said she’s perplexed why more people don’t attend the markets as a family fun event. “We have gorgeous weather, we think people will come down, we added food trucks – it’s just not happening. We really need to come up with an activation strategy.” McQuown said in the off-season they are going to explore possibly hiring a market manager to grow the market. It is extremely difficult for her and Steve Turman to do with their other activities. Lastly, McQuown recommended changes to the city’s peddler’s ordinance to make it more friendly toward food trucks; as when the ordinance was created there was no such thing.