Vivian Sanders, of Surukotoga, shows her wood products at the Berkley Farmers Market last week. Surukotoga is Japanese for “to be.”
By: Mike Koury | Woodward Talk | Published June 27, 2023
BERKLEY — After more than a decade away, the Berkley Farmers Market has made a return to the city.
On June 1, the Berkley Farmers Market was brought back for the first time in 15 years. It will be running from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Thursday through October. The market can be found on Robina Avenue south of 12 Mile Road.
The market returned after a number of businesses reached out to the Downtown Development Authority about bringing it back, DDA Executive Director Mike McGuinness said.
“There (has) been a lot of community pent-up interest and people have inquired about it, but we just didn’t have the bandwidth to pull it off, but a few of the downtown businesses have stepped up and are helping coordinate it,” he said.
McGuinness said the market features about 20 vendors each week, picked from businesses that filled out applications with the DDA.
“That way we have a variety and we don’t have five people selling the same type of goods, and then it evolves through the season based on what produce is in and what’s growing,” he said.
With a couple of weeks under the market’s belt, McGuinness said that so far the market has been well received. He also stated that the DDA has gotten a lot of positive feedback to help improve the event.
“Each week it continues to grow in terms of attendees and in number of vendors,” he said.
For the past several weeks, Angela Purchase has been bringing her business, Baked in the D, to the farmers market. The Warren native’s shop sells sweet treats and baked goods, such as lemon pound cake and chocolate-dipped strawberries.
Purchase got involved in the market thanks to her friend, Janine Brown, owner of the Artsy Umbrella and one of the coordinators who helps put the market together.
“Every week at the farmers market, people keep coming back for these pound cakes and banana breads, and I’m just really grateful for that,” Purchase said.
Purchase said the people at the farmers market have been really supportive of both her and the other small businesses.
“There’s a lot of people that walk through there, even though it’s not busy all the time. So I would say seven out of 10 people have been buying something from me as they walk through, and then returning,” she said. “The farmers market is going to bring more business and more people during the day on a random Thursday to help Berkley continue to grow their small businesses.”
For more information or to apply to be a vendor, visit downtownberkley.com/farmersmarket.