The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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June 27, 2009

Enid Farmers Market puts down roots

By Violet Hassler, Staff Writer

As the summer stretches on, more than vegetables are growing at Enid Farmers Market.

Organizers are cultivating great things for the vendor-based endeavor that opened its debut season in May, near the intersection of Grand and Garriott, and has been surpassing expectations ever since.

One of the first things on their list is putting down some permanent roots.

“We love the location we’re at,” said organizer Corey Groendyke. “However, I think that we’ve already outgrown it.”

She said market officials already are looking for a permanent location that ideally would be downtown, which the city is working toward making a destination spot in Enid.

“We have a lot of low-lying flood space in the downtown Enid area,” she said, “and that would pull us away from Owen K. Garriott, but it would make sense for us to be in those areas cause we wouldn’t have — except for at some point a kitchen — we wouldn’t have any structure to where floodwaters would damage it.”

Groendyke an immediate goal is to find an area downtown that offers plenty of space but still is close to corridor streets.

“We want it to be as visible as possible for those impulse shoppers, because that’s a lot of what farmers market is about.”

While she said she does not have one place in mind, there are several open areas downtown, such as the land behind Mark Price Arena. The city is trying to decide the fate of the arena, and when asked if the structure would work for the market’s purposes, Groendyke said she would think the current ADA issues the city is facing with the facility would hinder their needs as well.

“But we’re not closed to anything,” she said.

Once land is secured, the next big goal would be to pour concrete for a permanent foundation that would make the market more accessible. From that point, Groendyke said, the possibilities are endless.

“Ideally, in an ideal world, with an ideal situation and unlimited funds so we can get this accomplished — and obviously we’re probably going to have to go in phases with this — but we would like to have some construction going on by this time next year in a permanent location so that in the 2011 season we would be at a permanent location.”

Another huge milestone for market officials would be to establish a permanent structure, as close to the market as possible, to set up a commercial kitchen for the vendors. State law, she said, mandates goods sold for profit must be cooked in a licensed kitchen. Currently vendors are using stoves in the city’s licensed RSVP facility, but the logistics of scheduling are complicated.

“When you think about fresh-baked bread,” Groendyke said, “I mean, the focus is it’s fresh, so if it’s Friday, and you’ve got six vendors who want to be there making their goodies ...

“You can’t do that when you have two, small, home-sized ovens. We just need to have more space so it can be financially viable for everybody. That’s the goal.”

Groendyke appealed to the city commission members during a study session at the first of June. She asked if the city could provide some assistance in locating the land and the needed structure.

City Manager Eric Benson said city officials will meet with Groendyke and others later this week to talk about the future of the downtown area and what role Enid Farmers Market may play.

The market, he said, is just one of the attributes the city is looking at that will transform Enid’s downtown area into a destination hot spot.

And the city isn’t the only one trying to determine how downtown could be developed. Others are working toward that end independently, he said.

Benson said he believes the city is “in a position to move pretty quickly to satisfy” the needs of Enid Farmers Market.

“I think Corey Groendyke is going to be a great spark of vitality for this discussion,” he said.

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