Penacook Farmers’ Market Starts Second Season [VIDEO]

Nestled under some trees on the old Rolfe Homestead on the afternoon of June 20, vendors started setting up tents, getting ready to sell fresh vegetables, strawberries, plants, meats, soy candles, and locally roasted coffee beans, at the second season of the Penacook Farmers’ Market.

While setting up, a guitarist tuned his instrument and blew some notes from a harmonica, while local politicians like County Commissioner and Ward 1 City Councilor Liz Blanchard and state Rep. Steve Shurtleff, who both represent the area, greeted customers and picked up some veggies too.

“Isn’t it a wonderful afternoon?,” asked Shurtleff, who represents Penacook in the Legislature and is also an at-large Concord City Councilor. 

Indeed, it was a beautiful pre-summer afternoon. And it’s a good start for the market too, according to Mike Cotton, the editor of The Merrimack Valley Voice, the local monthly newspaper and an organizer for the Market.

“Year number two,” he said. “Hopefully, it goes off as smoothly as last year.”

Cotton said about 150 people come to the Market each week to buy products from local famers. Currently, there are about 15 vendors participating, which is up from 11 last year. There are another five more waiting to join, according to Cotton.

“I don’t like to have a ton of duplicated products,” he said.

However, Cotton noted that even though there was some overlap in offerings between farmers, the products often don’t last.

“Those strawberries won’t be here for more than 30 minutes once they start hitting,” he said, pointing to a Canterbury farmer with a table full of quarts. “Strawberries seem to be a bumper crop this year.”

The Market offers live music to draw people in a couple of times a month, Cotton said. So far, the growing season is good, although things are about a week behind, due to the early rain.

“Everything is fresh and all locally grown,” he said. “Their core [customer base] are people who want to eat fresh, eat healthy, and eat local.”

Kristina Peare of Dimond Hill Farm was offering a bunch of vegetables to customers on Monday, including peas that were picked that afternoon, as well as lettuce and strawberries.

“It’s a little bit of fits and starts with the weather,” she said. “It’s good though.”

Peare said the tomatoes were starting to come in but were a little late this year, due to the nine days of rain earlier in the spring. She called the Penacook Market a “very good, welcoming, friendly” market.

Arthur Mountain of Arthur Mountain All-Natural Meats in Warner, sells meats along with raw milk and eggs. He currently participates in seven markets and says the Penacook Farmers’ Market is a good one.

“I raise everything myself,” he said. “I sell a lot of chicken because there are no hormones and antibiotics. It’s a lot healthier food. [Shoppers] like to know where their meat is coming from.”

Steve Mongeau of Concord Candle Works in Penacook makes organic candles. The candles don’t produce any soot when they burn because they contain no petroleum products, he said. The candles burn cotton wicks and soy oil at the base and come in a variety of flavors and colors, he said.

“Essentially, it’s a green product,” Mongeau said.

After the candle goes out, the soy base can be used as a moisturizer, he said, adding that while soy candles have been around since the 1990s, they were starting to become more popular.

Mongeau said honeydew melon was his favorite. The biggest sellers are honeydew melon, lavender, strawberry and lilac.

The Penacook Farmers’ Market is open from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays through October.