MARSHFIELD – A crowd greeted organizers of this year’s Festival Foods farmers market at a meeting set to go over the what, and why, changes were made.
The meeting drew about 75 people to the 2nd Street Community Center on May 21, where members of the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MACCI), Festival Foods’ store director and the regional farmers market coordinator for central Wisconsin fielded questions.
In past years, the Festival Foods market has been held for two days – Saturdays and Sundays – with store employees helping to run the event. But because of changes at the state level, grocery store officials said they no longer can do that.
“From our standpoint as Festival, we just don't have the manpower to run a market. That's not the business we're in. We're in the business of being a grocery store,” said Marty Shy, the store director at Festival Foods. “We want to keep the market, but we needed to find a partner who would actually be able to fulfill all the state rules that are in place, because if we don't follow the state rules, we're not allowed to have the market.”
Each week, the state Department of Revenue (DOR) requires the farmers market to submit a list of all the vendors selling at the market for that week along with certain information about each vendor. That includes their vendor number, Social Security number, FEIN number, if they’re exempt from paying taxes and more.
They also must have a seller’s permit if they are selling taxable merchandise or property, unless the sales are exempt from sales or use tax. According to the DOR website, those permits are good for two years; after that the permit will automatically renew. Vendors can apply for them online.
“It's going to take hours from volunteers every morning on (market) Saturdays,” Shy said. “That's where I was very excited when MACCI stepped up to the plate, because frankly, if they hadn’t, we wouldn't be having a market this year.”
Shy said he reached out to numerous organizations, and the Marshfield Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MACCI) agreed to take the helm – but only for this year.
“This is just a transitional period to get us through this year (and) buy us some time to find a committee or another group or organization to take it on for years to come,” said Denise Sonnemann, MACCI’s executive director.
Also new this year is a $50 vendor fee, which is good for the entire season. While some in the audience objected to the added cost, others said they weren’t surprised.
“All the farmers markets around here already charge a fee,” said Diane Lang, who has a farmstead in McMillan, just outside Marshfield. She added that the fees are usually for liability insurance and other expenses the vendors don’t have to carry themselves.
Lang was among the vendors at the meeting who said they might be interested in helping to organize a cooperative or something similar to take over the market next year.
That’s where Meliss Haack comes in. She’s the regional farmers market coordinator for central Wisconsin, and her job is to help create sustainable farmers markets.
“Think of a farmers market as a business for businesses,” she told the crowd.
By creating an organization to run the farmers market, it would also allow them to stay on top of any rule changes at the county or state level.
“I can help guide the organizing committee through that whole process,” Haack said.
Sonnemann stressed that MACCI’s involvement is temporary.
“This group has one year to figure out what you’re going to do,” she said.
This year’s market will be 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, June 14-Oct. 11.
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