I think most of us are locals. Our market requires us to farm within 75 miles, which I think is a very wide radius. Luckily I am only 8 miles away. The furthest vendor drives about 45 miles but he has a unique product (non-hormone and open grazed frozen meats and eggs) and a vast following. There is not another market nearer to him and people drive up to 50 miles from every direction to buy from him. There are 3 other markets I could sell at farther away but they are all on the same day. They also do not allow anyone but the farmer to be the vendor.

I use my extended cab truck, with a long bed using a tarp and elastic mesh cover to keep stuff from flying out. Most of the other vendors for our small market drive SUV's and set up a 10x10 tent halfway over it. There is one guy who has a flatbed truck and assorted boxes tied down (he has a big produce farm). One vendor tows a small trailer behind his small truck. It really depends on what and how much, you will be offering. In the spring when I sell plants, the truck bed is stuffed. In the summer when I sell baked goods and jams, the bed just holds the tent, standing signs, tables and chairs. The cab holds the boxes of sweets and milk crates hold the jars so I can lock them up when I stop for lunch on the way home.

Nancy

Currently I have a Friday evening market at the KY Horse Park and a Saturday market in Frankfort. The Horse Park market is about 40 miles from us and the Frankfort market about 15. One market we have to supply a tent but the other has a pavillion under roof. This year we bought a used extended van to transport. It sure beats the pick up that we were using before as we can leave many things in the truck from the Friday evening market and get an earlier start on Saturday morning. Since it can load from both the side and back we can get it loaded and unloaded faster and easier. We sell lots of baked goods, canned goods and vegetables. Over the winter we invested in RPC's (reusable produce containers)that break down and nest to store. Though somewhat expensive they are WONDERFUL. Wish I'd bought 100 instead of just 50. They stack 4 high in the van and allow for easier handling.

I think how far you travel to a market depends upon how much you have to sell and how strong the market is. It's possible that if I had a market strong enough to sell all the product that I sell at the two markets combined that I'd be interested in traveling farther. It'd save time and manpower to just load and unload once and have an extra day free.

Janet

I sell at three markets from the end of June through beginning of August. One is in my hometown on Saturday and the other two are Wednesday and Thursday evenings. They are 30 and 40 miles away. I drive my extended bed truck. I pack alot of stuff in the extended cab. Usually my jellies and other temperature sensitive stuff. I load everything else in the back. I put everything in clear tubs that are 1.5 by 2 feet. They are the sterlite brand. They have white lids. I can stack four high in the bed of my truck. I usually have 1/2 bushel baskets of potatoes or other items stored in there too. When I have melons, I pull a nice pickup bed trailer. It is nice to have the extra room and not smash stuff.

I can put my tables on top of the tubs and strap it all down. It makes everything pretty easy.

Jay

We are selling at one market, 26 miles away. We have a diesel truck, but have found it more cost-effective to drive two small cars to market. One is packed with honey, wax products and an observation hive; the other car generally has the vegetables/shiitakes. We also pack a tent, two tables, and whatever wooden boxes or buckets are needed to get the product off the ground. We would like to participate in a Wednesday market next year in a town about 40 miles away, but may avoid it unless the vendors there settle their differences over which parking lot to use.
Quintin