More people are enjoying the products at the Oil City farmers market since it changed its hours at the beginning of July, according to organizers.
The market, which is held every Thursday during the summer months, used to run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., but the new hours from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Central Avenue plaza area allow better accessibility for both vendors and shoppers.
Father Mark Elliston, vicar of Christ Episcopal Church in Oil City and a member of Oil City Main Street steering committee, which runs the market, said Thursday the new hours have “helped tremendously” with attendance.
Gary Kiselka of B2G Farms, which sells fresh produce at the market, said he’d estimate his stand is easily averaging about 200 people a day since the time change.
Elliston said about half-a-dozen regular vendors set up each week. These include B2G Farms; Grams Baked Goods, selling baked goods, fruit spreads and handmade crafts; Kris Soaps with all-natural soaps and bath accessories; Organic Body Works, selling homemade soaps and screen printed T-shirts; Medicine Bear’s Apothecary, selling natural medicines and crafts such as bone and leather work and paintings; and, new with the new hours, JP’s Tickle My Ribs providing barbecued food and sides.
Christ Episcopal Church also has a booth with fair trade coffee and chocolate and Jordanian olive oil.
“We always try to have at least one nonprofit each week,” Ellison said. “It’s available to any nonprofit, including county agencies, if they contact me ahead of time.”
For the Oil Heritage Festival this week, the market also invited the Oil City Garden Club as a guest.
“This is our major fundraiser for the year,” said club member Judy Gerzina.
Elliston remarked that a few other vendors hope to alternate weeks between here and Grove City. He mentioned Gruber Farms, which has farm-raised chicken and pork products, and “we’re hoping to get Mitch Hill Dairy,” he said.
The new afternoon hours would be better for these vendors since “people don’t want to buy their frozen chicken and fresh milk in the morning and then carry them around all day,” Elliston said.
Elliston has worked with the farmers market for about five years since he became affiliated with Christ Episcopal, and he said he has seen the market grow since his arrival, although when COVID-19 locked down the country, “we lost a couple of small organic farms who didn’t make it,” he said.
“This year, I think we’re up to about where we were before COVID,” he said. “Eventually, we’re looking to build up to a dozen vendors.”
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