The large farmers markets in Northwest Arkansas have closed for the season, but shoppers have several options for buying locally grown produce.
A winter market has opened Saturdays at the Potting Shed garden center in Bentonville.
Organizers of the Siloam Springs Farmers Market decided to stay open through the winter.
At A Glance
Winter Markets
• Green Fork Farmers Market
When: 4-7 p.m., Wednesday
Where: 205 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville (in the breezeway behind Nightbird Books)
Greenforkfarmersmarket.locallygrown.net
• Potting Shed Winter Market
When: 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday
Where: 8542 W. McNelly Road, Bentonville (at the Potting Shed garden center)
• Siloam Springs Farmers Market
When: 9-11 a.m., Saturday
Where: 116 N. Broadway St., Siloam Springs (next to Wellspring Nutrition)
Siloamsprings.locallygrown.net
• Wren Thicket Market
When: 9 a.m.-noon, Saturday
Where: 1041 S. School Ave., Fayetteville (at the Fayetteville Firefighters Association building)
wrenthicketmarket.com
Source: Staff Report
And two Fayetteville markets — the Green Fork and Wren Thicket — will again offer meat, cheese, vegetables, eggs, baked goods, honey, jam and jellies despite the cold weather.
“We have a lot of value-added products — stuff that we’ve preserved from the summer months like pesto, salsas and preserves,” said Cheri LaRue, manager of the Green Fork Farmers Market, which stays open year-round Wednesday evenings in the breezeway behind Nightbird Books on Dickson Street.
Debra Elam, who runs the Wren Thicket Market on Saturday mornings on South School Avenue, said fresh produce that’s available is grown by three or four farmers with hoop houses — semi-circular, plastic tunnels where plants are protected from the cold. Crops include winter squash, potatoes, root vegetables and leafy greens.
Both markets have an online ordering system and customers can purchase goods straight from vendors’ tables.
At the Siloam Springs market, products must be ordered in advance.
The market’s website lists available products each Sunday, and orders must be made by Wednesday, said Stacy Hester, market manager.
Customers can pick up their orders between 9 and 11 a.m. each Saturday at a storefront on North Broadway Street.
“It’s been really good so far,” Hester said.
Ryan Craig, who owns Adams’ Acres on Clear Creek, a farm just northwest of Fayetteville, is one of about 20 vendors selling goods at the Potting Shed from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Craig said he and other vendors who sell at the Bentonville Farmers Market in the spring, summer and fall wanted an outlet during the winter months.
“It’s doing great,” he said. “We notified all of our regular customers, so they’re all coming to it, and we’re getting some new customers that we never had before.”
The Fayetteville Farmers’ Market offered a winter market in a tent last year at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. The tent was damaged by ice and snow earlier this month.
“Last year was very well received,” Lori Boatright, market manager, said. “It made a huge difference for vendors who wouldn’t have had any sales options during the winter.”
“We would love to find something for this season,” she added, “but we’ve been unable to secure an indoor location.”
The Fayetteville Farmers’ Market is scheduled to open on the downtown square April 5. Boatright said market managers are trying to figure out what to do at the botanical garden site this spring.
“Everything’s really up in the air with the tent,” she said.
The Springdale Farmers Market will open the first Saturday in May at The Jones Center according to the market’s website.
Manager Kimberly Scott said the Rogers Farmers Market will open the last Saturday in April at the corner of Walnut and First streets.
Craig said the Potting Shed Winter Market will close in April when the Bentonville Farmers Market opens on the downtown square.