Farmers market kicks off Friday

By Katie Klingsporn
Published: Thursday, June 14, 2007 8:52 PM CDT
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After a long winter at the end of this shadowy box canyon, there’s good news for people hankering for freshly-cut greens, piquant herbs, new flowers and ripe fruit.

The Telluride Farmers Market begins Friday on South Oak Street. The market will run every Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. until fall arrives in October.

The market will start out a little thin, which is typical because this early in the season there’s not a whole lot of produce to sell. However, shoppers can expect potted plants, starter plants, cut flowers, salad greens and herbs, along with jewelry and crafts, eggs, meat and baked goods, said Bryan Bebb, the new manager of the market.

There will be 20 to 30 vendors at this first market, Bebb said. But as the season progresses, more and more growers will show up, and there will probably be around 50 at the height of activity, selling everything from heirloom tomatoes to anaheim chiles, asian pears, haricot verts and butternut squash.

This year the market is also undergoing an administrative transition, as founder M’lissa Story opted not to sign a contract with the town this spring. Tomten Institute, run by local grower Kris Holstrom, stepped in to execute the contract at the last minute when the fate of the market was unknown, and the idea is to transform the market into a vendors’ co-op of sorts, with Bebb as the point man.

Holstrom said it may take a couple Fridays before the new management nails things down.

“We’re looking forward to getting out feet under us,” she said. “This week we’ll be getting our feet wet, just dipping our toes in. I’m sure we’ll have things come up.”

Tomten won’t be selling at the market on Friday, Holstrom said, but will likely show up the weekend after Bluegrass with salad greens, edible sours and maybe some radishes. This spring has been good and wet, but temperatures out on Hasting’s Mesa have been a little cold, she said.

San Miguel County’s other local grower, Indian Ridge Farm out of Norwood, will be at the market “fully armed,” said grower Tony Daranyi.

“We’ll basically have everything,” he said.

This means organic bread, eggs, poultry, cookies, pizza crusts and the ever-popular Indian Ridge granola.

Indian Ridge also grows produce, but reserves it for CSA customers. Daranyi said their CSA memberships were snapped up in three weeks this year, and the farm will be feeding about 75-80 people this summer.

Conditions are looking good so far, he said.

“It’s been the typical high altitude Rocky Mountain challenge,” he said. “But overall it’s been a great spring, with lots of water and fairly good growing conditions. The animals have done well and the garden’s looking great.”

However, the farming region northeast of Telluride was hit by a hard freeze this spring, and there’s buzz among farmers that it will likely have a big impact on this summer’s crop of fruit, particularly stone fruit like Palisade’s famously delicious peaches.

“A lot of people lost a lot of stuff in the frost we had during the off-season,” Bebb said. “We hope for the best, right now it’s still a little too early to tell.”

Bebb, a former local farm intern, will also be setting up a booth so people with questions and concerns can find him at the market. He can also be reached at telluridefarmersmarket@gmail.com.