Photo by Corin Hirsch.
In 1977, when a few farmers began assembling trucks and tables in a Norwich field to sell greens, bread, and bushels of beans to their Upper Valley neighbors each summer Saturday, one of the first farmers markets in Vermont was born.
Nearly five decades on, the Norwich Farmers Market is among the largest and most successful of the state’s 60 or so markets. Its wooden stalls occupy the same leased field where it began along Route 5, though amongst the greens and squash are samosas, cardamon rolls, chorizo, tallow creams, and tinctures. On Saturday mornings from May to October, so many visitors (2,000 or so) can descend that parking is its own side quest and traffic sometimes backs up along Route 5.
“We’re lucky to have these problems, but we’ve clearly outgrown [the site] in many ways,” said market manager Nica Mieloch-Blinn. She called the grassy parking lot “bonkers” at times. “It’s regularly uncomfortable on a busy day.”
This summer, the Upper Valley Agricultural Association, a nonprofit formed two years ago to spearhead the move to a less problematic site, wanted to know if the parking frenzy was keeping people away. They launched a survey to explore that and other questions, and over a thousand people responded.
Nearly half (46 percent) had visited the market two or more times this summer; of those who hadn’t attended, or attended less often, nearly a third (30 percent) blamed crowding, while 16 percent cited parking woes and 9 percent said traffic and access were challenging. Meanwhile, 14 percent of all respondents said market prices were too high.
About 71 percent said they would be “somewhat or much more likely” to visit if the market was less crowded.
“We have 30 percent of locals choosing not to come. Those are the folks that are going to buy the ears of corn, the produce, the lettuce,” said Peggy Allen, UVAA president, a sheep farmer who sold yarn at the market for a decade, and co-owner of Junction Fiber Mill. “The bottom line is that this market is going to be 50 years old next year, and it needs and deserves a permanent home.” The land on which the market sits is owned by the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society, which has leased it to the market for decades.
Peggy Allen at the market this past Saturday. Photo courtesy of Nica Mieloch-Blinn.
In conversation, Allen is laser-focused on the $5.7 million endeavor to develop a more spacious outdoor market, as well as a 7,500-square-foot building and a larger parking lot. Last January, the UVAA used its first $1 million in donations toward a $750,000 purchase of a 35-acre tract across Route 5. This year, during phase 2, the goal is $2.3 million to begin site work including culverts, a driveway, a parking area, and utilities. That effort got a massive boost from a $1 million donation from a retired local couple who frequented the market for years. “It was a tremendous donation that really put the wind back in our sails,” Allen said. Even so, Allen says, UVAA still needs to raise $900,000 to reach the goal for this phase.
Farmers markets can be an outsized source of revenue for established vendors. Suzanne Long, co-owner of South Royalton’s Luna Bleu Farm, has sold organic produce, eggs, and meat at the Norwich Farmers Market for decades; she estimates that 50 percent of her farm’s revenue is from the weekly market. “Every year our income increases, and the share of farmers’ income has increased and become more significant,” she said. The crowds the market draws on a sunny Saturday may bring in revenues, but they also pose challenges, she adds. “It can be an issue to vendors, because their line ends up being in front of another stand.”
Luna Bleu Farm’s Suzanne Long. Photo courtesy of Nica Mieloch-Blinn.
Rainy days, on the other hand, are a wet blanket on earnings, such as during a stretch of rainy Saturdays in spring 2025. “Last year was a really rough year for weather,” said Valerie Woodhouse, co-owner of Norwich’s Honey Field Farm. “It rained for 10 weeks in a row on Saturdays. We saw a 10 percent drop in sales last May, and from what I hear, some people were down 25 percent.”
“We’ve seen the intensity ramp up in terms of weather,” noted Mieloch-Blinn, “When it rains, there can be monsoon weather for hours. We’ve had flooding and it’s affected our farmers. Because we’re a sloped market, it can create mud, and cars get stuck.”
The planned new building, with a 5,000-square-foot hall, is planned with an overhang for rainy summer weather, and is intended to serve as a home for the winter market, which is now held from November to April at Norwich’s Tracy Hall. There, awkward logistics—such as a steep stairway and one elevator—make loading in and out challenging for vendors, while shoulder-to-shoulder shoppers and indoor heat sometimes make the experience uncomfortable for both shoppers and vendors.
“We’re stuffing a lot of people in there, and it can get extremely hot,” said Woodhouse, who strategically moves around bagged greens “so they don’t get steamed while waiting.”
Valerie Woodhouse of Honey Field Farm. Photo courtesy of Nica Mieloch-Blinn.
With few spots available to new vendors among the 55 or so sellers each week, openings for new farms, craftspeople, and prepared food sellers can be thin on the ground right now. Ten new vendors applied to the market last January, said Mieloch-Blinn, compared to two or three in years past. “Our numbers have steadily seemed to go up. It’s the most applications I’ve ever seen,” she said. “I think that [the market] plays a pivotal role in helping these young businesses. If they can get into the market, they know it’s a successful market.”
That lack of space for new vendors at the Norwich Farmers Market compelled Woodhouse and her husband, Eli Hersh, to launch a Monday afternoon “mini-market” on their own farm. The offerings run from bagels to lobster rolls to creemees. “The majority of the vendors at my market are on the wait list for Norwich Farmers Market,” Woodhouse said.
For more information:
The Norwich Farmers Market site contains details on upcoming winter dates and hours, as well as a list of vendors with links to their websites.
The Upper Valley Agricultural Association site explains the campaign for a new market, with details on what’s planned.
Corin Hirsch has been a staff food critic and drinks writer at Newsday and Seven Days, and contributes to The Guardian, Yankee, Wine Enthusiast and other publications.
