I have been doing a monthly out door winter market for 7 or 8 years. We sell greens, roots, onions, garlic, leeks, popcorn, dried culinary herbs, catnip, winter squash and occasionally some canned goods.

There are others who sell baked goods, meat, soap, grains, arts and crafts and eggs. Usually 10 or 12 sellers show up

Generally we do pretty well with sales as this market has a dedicated core of around 100-150 customers that will show up in a blizzard and buy food.

we do not go to markets when the temps will be below 25F throughout the market as we have had too many things freeze and had to be dumped on the compost. this means we will usually miss one or two markets during the winter. this year I suspect we will quit going after January as I doubt we will have much to sell.

We have 'mini-markets' on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the first Saturday of Dec and one in March. Our bake goods people do VERY well, I've tried them but didn't have much to sell. Ours is outside and sometimes it's very cold. These markets will happen NO MATTER what happens. Of course, we've not had blizzards during these days, so that might slow it down.

The baking people have been doing the Thanksgiving and the Saturday before Easter for years. They send out emails/postcards weeks before for special orders and alot of people show up just to pick up their orders. Sometimes they buy from the rest of us. Usually less than 10 vendors on these market days vs over 60 during the summer time.

These markets are outside? WOW, that is some dedication. I am pretty sure I wouldn't have anyone show up if they were outside, vendors or customers. It can get pretty cold here in Kansas.

We are looking at a location across the street from our current market. It is a youth center. I am unsure if they will allow us, but they let us use their tables in the past. We are also looking at some vacant building in our nice downtown area. We would use them just to set up in. I also know we can get my church center. It is 3 blocks from our current location.

I am hoping I can get other producers/bakers to join in. We have some awesome products to offer, I just hope we can get it to work. It would be really nice to bring in a few more $$ during the "off-season" in addition to my CSA.

Jay

the market i sell at is open all year round. i haven't ever sold there before april or after october but may this year.

I'm not sure if it's 'dedication' or insanity. Some years definitely insanity.

jay i think you would be surprised how many of your customers would show up to an outdoor winter market, even a cold snowy one. It becomes an adventure and they are only outside for 15 to 20 minutes at most. now getting vendors will be a whole 'nother ball of wax as they have had to of grown crops for the event and that takes prior planning usually. If you have a person who sells turkey you have a great draw for the Thanksgiving and Christmas markets.

If you know someone that makes crafts, the thanksgiving and pre-Christmas markets would be good for them. Anyone knit???

UPDATE:

After discussing the idea with other businesses (friends of ours) in the downtown area, about 4-5 block area, the Kitchen and Gourmet food store in town is having a Christmas Open house and they are having it on the 13th and 14th of November. Several other businesses are having a similar event on the same days. It looks like we could do it this weekend and get additional people who shop at those businesses to stop by. They liked the idea and thought it would work. It is looking like it will work out great!

Jay

The first weekend in Dec, our town has an event called "Dickens of a Christmas", with strolling theatre players up and down a 8 block area of our downtown. our market area is in the middle of those blocks.

our local market, Minnetrista does winter market once a month in their main building. I'm glad that it's inside because it gives me an opportunity to sell houseplants and christmas wreaths there in the winter months. It's not nearly as busy as the outdoor markets, but our die hard customers come anyway and it's a great chance to talk to them. You get too busy to talk during summer. So I talk and promote my products I'm going to have for the upcoming season and prebook some plants for customers who want special things. So it's good for PR too.

I would love to have an inside market once per month. Sandy like you, I don't have much time to talk to my customers and something like yours would make it so much easier to find out how the past market went and what they would like to see in the upcoming summer market. I'd love to see your winter market, email me with details.

Here in Portland Oregon the winter is mild but it rains a lot. We continue to sell at the farmers market every Wed.(2-7pm) unless it's expected to pour really hard all day. In mid January there are about 6 vendors selling. We have storage crops like onions, garlic, potatoes, winter squash, cabbage, carrots, brussel sprouts, celery, fennel and kohlrabi as well as greens from the field and greenhouse which should last us through mid March.

The market doesn't generate the kind of action it does in the summer/fall but because most of the other markets are finished up, people that are committed come from all over the city to buy our stuff.

Tonight (11/20) we are expecting our first hard frost.

Here is a link that might be useful: Peoples co-op market

I just did our Saturday before Thanksgiving market yesterday. Our last regular day was Oct 31. We do it indoors and the market charges $50 for each vendor to cover the cost. I sold 12 bushels of apples which is less than last year but this year I only had golden delicious and last year I had 3 varieties. After much reflection I think its a good deal, a limited deal.
A farmers market about one hour east of us goes until Dec 18th.

e-mail me northerntropics@sbcglobal.net I can't find your email address on your profile.

minnetrista.net is the website of the place that we do our winter market. We had one on 11/20 and had 302 people. Best crowd ever in three years.

We did have our first winter market. It was held indoors. Across the street from where our regular market is held. It went well. We had 4 vendors. While it doesn't seem like much, each vendor was completely different. We had alot of selections and variety. We had our honey and honey products guy, our cheese and baked goods person, our buffalo, tomatoes and peppers person and me with beef, pork, jams, jellies, lettuce, spinach, arugula, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips, radishes, beets, carrots, napa cabbage, bok choy, and kale.

It was a decent day, not as much as I had wanted, but better than I thought.

Many people wanted to know if we were going to do this all winter, we said no. It was a one time deal. However, we directed them to our online market. It takes so much time to do a market. It was open from 9-12:30. I was up a 6:00 and at the place by 7:45, set up the tables and sold the whole time, tore down and cleaned up and was out by 1:15.

I couldn't do that every week. Maybe if we had more helpers and more vendors. I think the market is there, but we have to open it up to an online format.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Maybe next year we can set it up for multiple times and plan ahead!

Jay

sandy, I found your market's website and I'm thinking about coming over to visit.

Jay, our winter mini markets started out as just 1 day, the first weekend of December, and then the bakery people decided that they would set up on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. After that, others decided to set up on Saturdays that the downtown merchants had special days. We will have a mini market in March/April, usually the saturday before Easter.

well yesterday's market was the first time i needed 4 wheel drive to get home from because of the snow.

come on up, it's open next on 12/18 from 9-12. If the weather's not too bad to make such a trip. You'll be able to find me there easily in my crazy tropical hat. I didn't wear it last time and everyone had a fit. So I guess it's on for this time. I'm giving out sample bottles of my tabasco sauce for Christmas this time. I'm trying to get it worked out with the board of health about selling it next season anyway.

We have to see what the weather is. Right now, we've been cutting firewood to sell, and at this moment there is only 1 rick stacked and ready to go. 4 ricks went out yesterday. I hope it warms up some so that we can cut and stack more. Our goal is to have 10-16 ricks stacked at any time, with another 10-16 ricks piled up behind the stacked ones.