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Filling your cotton shopping bag with the season’s brightest, ripest, grown locally fruits and vegetables has become a seasonal tradition for most Hoosiers thanks to the growth in popularity for farmers markets. It’s a highlight on the Zionsville community calendar every Saturday, and this year, it’s back on Main Street and highlighted on the bricks, ready to serve the community of residents and merchants.
Due to construction and the need for extra social distancing space, the 2020 version saw the Zionsville Farmers Market at Town Hall. It wasn’t until the market’s president, Danielle Pezet, and the rest of her board received feedback from the community that they realized a return to the market’s roots was necessary.
“The response was that the community loved having the market in the village, and how much of an impact it had on not only the community, but also the businesses that are permanently on Main Street,” Pezet says. “There was a boost to the traffic, the community and the energy that surrounds the market every Saturday, and that was really missed as well. So, we were eager to get back to the village.”
One of the new initiatives for the market was meant to celebrate that sense of community and partnership between the brick-and-mortar shops as well as the tented shops throughout the farmers market.
“The market had a large impact on the Main Street merchants and we didn’t even realize it at first, so we decided that we could have an even larger impact if we were more strategic,” Pezet adds. “Of course, the Indiana farmer, our market vendors, is the big one that we support, but also the merchants that surround the market are another priority.”
Every Saturday, a new Main Street merchant is honored as the “Merchant of the Week” by the market. The program is meant to highlight the merchant via their social media feed, as well as offering them a place within the market itself to network with residents. The Merchant of the Week also creates a Recipe of the Week, which is highlighted throughout the market and is usually created around the specific business using fresh, seasonal produce you can purchase right there at the market.
“This gives the shopper more direction and inspiration when shopping,” Pezet says.
Also important is the “BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag” initiative: When shoppers come with their own reusable shopping bags, they will receive a free raffle ticket from the Farmers Market. At the end of each market, a winner is pulled, and that person receives a $50 gift card to use at the merchant of the week.
“So, the entire community is then supporting our environmental initiative,” Pezet adds.
Keeping with the theme of being environmentally conscious with a local flair, the market has partnered with the Town of Zionsville to offer trash, recycling and compost at the market itself, as well as educational signs that helps residents understand what goes in what bins.
The Zionsville Farmers Market runs 8 am to 11:30 a.m. every Saturday through the end of September. You’ll find the market in historic downtown Zionsville between Hawthorne and Pine Streets. You can follow the Zionsville Farmers Market on Facebook at facebook.com/ZionsvilleFarmersMarket, and zionsvillefarmersmarket.org.
