Kent Farmer’s Market to move downtown

KENT – Farmers Market shoppers beware: when the beloved fixture of Kent’s summer programming kicks back up on May 22, it won’t be located on the familiar expanse of the Kent Land Trust Field. Instead, head straight to Main Street and park at your convenience, the Chamber of Commerce urges – and grab a coffee or check out some art while you’re at it.

“You park once, and you do everything,” said Chamber President Phil Fox as the rationale for moving the market, which has been a fair-weather fixture on the broad field south of town for four years. The new location is positioned around the Kent Welcome Center off of Railroad Street, and will take place on property spanning several businesses and town entities at the downtown location.

The main impetus for the change is connectivity between the market and the town’s commercial district, Fox explained. “That’s our goal, to bring people into town,” he said. “The idea is to make it part of the buzz that is the center of town on a Friday night.”

Other advantages of the new location include a power supply and public bathrooms, which will enable the addition of live music this summer, Fox added.

Local farmer Spencer Lord took over management duties of the Farmer’s Market this spring, and he said that the response across the community to the change has been enthusiastic. “The vendors are excited, the town is excited, the businesses downtown are excited, the customers are excited,” he said, “so it seems to be gaining momentum already.”

Lord and his fiancé Rebecca Kuczko, both 41, run Oracle Mushroom Company, a farm in South Kent that has recently expanded beyond fungi to pasture-raised poultry as part of its business model. The couple has operated a stall at the Kent market for the previous two years, and Lord said he jumped at the opportunity when the management position opened up.

“We’re very social with all the vendors that we work with at all the farmer’s markets, and we really have tried to promote them as much as possible, even way before I ever stepped into this role,” he said. “The better they do, the better we do.”

Speaking on April 17, Lord said 35 vendors had been secured to show up this season – “and we’re getting approached by new vendors probably every other day.”

Lord said that the scope of vendors will be hyperlocal, drawing from under an hour’s drive from downtown Kent. Some new vendors, like family winery Hopkins Vineyards, will add to a strong lineup of many returners, he reported.

Lord said he expects an average of 30-plus vendors active at the market per week, which he said the site can more than support. Parking, while not as straightforward as at the field, he said, will be plentiful, with Route 7, the Town Hall lots, parking around the Green available, while some businesses have also agreed to allow parking in their lots.

The Kent Land Trust, while no longer the host, will still be involved, Lord reported, running a regular stall all season at the market.

Overall, Lord said that the goal is to create a “symbiotic relationship” between the Farmer’s Market and broader community, and to take advantage of the festive Friday downtown atmosphere. On top of the music, Lord said he encourages local businesses to get in touch with him directly about further programming – “If you have an idea, let me know.”

“I think it will be really fun,” said Kent Land Trust Executive Director Connie Manes of the new location.