Looking to start the week at a farmers market? As of June 5, you can head to Bristol for the only Monday market in the state.
Between 20 and 30 rotating vendors will fill the town green each week from 4 to 7 p.m., offering farm-fresh fruits and veggies, prepared foods, artisanal goods, live music, face painting, lawn games, and wellness classes.
This new Monday market is the result of an organizing effort by Bristol CORE, a nonprofit that supports businesses, economic development and community events in the Addison County town’s designated downtown. A successful crowdfunding campaign raised $5,070 — which unlocked a $10,000 matching grant from the State of Vermont’s Better Places program — to start the market and bring back the Pocock Rocks Music Festival & Street Fair, which has been on hiatus for three years and will take over Main Street on June 17.
That funding will pay for the market’s programming, and general supplies, Bristol CORE executive director Alicia Standridge said. Additional American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated by the town will allow the market to budget for the next three seasons.
Bristol has been without a market for “about 10 years,” Standridge estimated. “We’re not on the way to very many places, so you have to plan to come here,” she said. “But we’re the kind of town that should have a farmers market.”
Standridge and Bristol CORE’s volunteer board started organizing the market’s relaunch in January. In March, bringing it back was among the top six recommendations the town’s ARPA Funding Advisory Committee made to the selectboard.
“It all worked out wonderfully,” Standridge said. The only timing issue was that many local vegetable producers had already ordered their seeds and made their plans for the year. The initial market lineup features roughly eight farms, including Farmer Hil, Lower Notch Berry Farm and Bristol Flats Farm; Standridge hopes to increase those numbers for next year.
But this season’s market will have plenty of food vendors, such as So-Full Sisters, La Chapina, Getty Goods & Services, lu•lu and Downhill Bread — a welcome addition to the green on a night when many stores and restaurants in the area are closed.
“My friends and I always joke that Monday is the last day of the week we want to cook,” Standridge said. “Being able to grab something at the market when there’s not much open in Bristol or Addison County is ideal.”
The original print version of this article was headlined “Core Event | Bristol’s farmers market is back on Monday evenings”
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This article appears in Jun 7-13, 2023.
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