I knew the address by visiting the Richfield website, but otherwise I may have missed this location. I probably was not the first to miss the fact that it is in Veterans Memorial Park because there were a plethora of signs by the road signaling that the farmer's market was in the park. Nice job on the signage attracting me to the market!
When I made my way into the park there was quite a bit of traffic for such a small location. I just had to follow the trail of people with reusable bags to figure out where I was going.
When I made my way to the market I was impressed that the market was under a picnic shelter. This location really gives some versatility to the market if there should be issues of rain or excessive heat. It also really helps that the canopy is right next to a children's playground. Much like we raved about Apple Valley's friendly atmosphere, this was can match it well.
When I got under the canopy though it was dark, real dark, too dark for me to realistically take pictures with my camera. Underneath the shelter though was some music, some buzzing commerce, and the smell of fresh coffee. I took my usual two laps of the market and settled first upon a vegetable stand. The stand was nondescript like the rest of the markets I had seen selling produce. Some basic signs labeling what food they were selling and prices. I was attracted solely by one item that the seller had, cabbage. I had been pondering items that Ryan and I could start cooking using what he and I would find at the market and today I decided I would be on the hunt to cook cabbage. Later in the week I will include a synopsis of how well cooking it went for me.
Second, I stopped at Deena's Gourmet Hummus. I had not remembered seeing Deena's at other markets I had visited and with good reason, it looks like from the website, you have made it as a fresh food market if you are hosting Deena. Kudos to Richfield for attracting her stand.
Deena's stand was well set to sell. She had four different types of hummus and they were all ready to be tasted with a sales associate that was more than knowledgeable about the product at a fairly reasonable price, $4. This week I plan to make or buy some flat bread to go along with the hummus.
Other things that I noticed were the usual suspects of Great Harvest, Eichten's and Caribou Coffee. It was wonderful that the market was able to pull down some familiar names to attract shoppers. As I was stumbling out of the market I noticed a picnic table in the center of the market with some flyers and magnets. I asked the woman attending them whether they were for the taking and she told me they were. It was great literature about the market, the Minnesota Grown Directory, and a magnet with tips on how to shop. I really would've liked this to be a stand with some good signage at the very beginning of the market. Instead, it was just nonchalantly there.
This brings me my point about this market, it has much potential. Going to this market was like seeing a band that with some more polish and some more publicity could really hit it big. This market already has good attendance, good variety, and good ambiance. To make this a great place to be in the Twin Cities I think they need to make the atmosphere around the market more vibrant.
As I said before I would really put a stand first and foremost that attracts people to eat healthy, eat local, and buy at the Richfield market. Next, I would work with sellers to make sure that they are in it for the active sell and not the passive buy.
This is a problem that seems to plague every market to a certain degree but realizing it could really help Richfield who has limited space which is becoming crowded and cluttered. I would use that beautiful space wisely with signs and proper placement of sellers. Some additional lighting would be a good help also. Last, it may help to have events that accompany the selling of food like cooking.
This is a problem that seems to plague every market to a certain degree but realizing it could really help Richfield who has limited space which is becoming crowded and cluttered. I would use that beautiful space wisely with signs and proper placement of sellers. Some additional lighting would be a good help also. Last, it may help to have events that accompany the selling of food like cooking.
I have yet to see live cooking at any of the markets and I feel like this would really give this market a real edge. It would be even better if it was the center piece of this market that clears out an anonymous picnic table or two in the middle.
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