Ketchum Farmers’ Market on Wednesday is alive!
BY Isaiah Frizzell
Breaking bread! Sharing cookies!
Stocking up on fresh greens and cheeses
from locally owned farms you can trust!
We need and love good food. Some people drink smoothies, some fast, and many of us eat whole nourishment from the very soil itself to sustain that energy as we maneuver through our day, laboring, laughing and loving our experiences.
Community is built on the process of connecting in meaningful ways—the process of finding and feeling a type of security, an extension of home. It’s in our neighborhood shops, nature, finance, entertainment spots. At the heart of community is connection and often the comfort of knowing there’ll be food. Aren’t most days bookended by the joy of eating and drinking? A strong swig of coffee with eggs and toast, a bagel with black tea and a bit of smoked whitefish. The simplest and perhaps most profound pleasure is often in connection and nourishment. What better way to join in than interacting with those people who bring us new and exciting things.
The Wood River Farmers’ Market is alive and well on Wednesdays in Ketchum. The new spot is at 131 River Street East with hours 12-4 p.m. The market will be active until October 11. It started on June 14—only five months! We have a limited amount of warm weather in these here parts. Enjoy them how you may, but when you look around your locale, your community, what keeps it thriving? Is it just the stores, the art supplies, the ski shops? Sure, these are all wonderful—swift scenes where you meet good people to acquire your lifestyle tools. But the difference in the connections is palpable at a farmers’ market.
Now, granted, Ketchum has some great groceries! Thankfully, and this is a preview (hint hint), many of the vendors from the market also sell their wares in fine establishments around Sun Valley. If you find something you love from someone at the market, well, it may be available year-round. But it’s the engagement with said people that changes the game.
Chatting about the batch of cookies that didn’t make the sale (and why); the source of delicate squash blossoms; the changing of a seamstress’s skills from quilts to throws to pillows, fitting the needs of the people. Connecting at the market you get to know the mindset of the makers who add value to your community in unique ways.
I visited the Ketchum Farmers’ Market on Wednesday just after it opened. There were already a fair amount of people enjoying the sunshine while a few shops were setting up. As it turns out, the first person I spoke to was an artist. Do people want to buy art at a “farmers’” market? Who let this guy in? Well yes, of course, this is a hub! The beauty of these exchanges is the opportunity for locals to interact and add novelty to the whole.
It turns out he’s a local artist, already featured on the cover of a local magazine, and has a beautiful gallery space. While primarily a visual artist, he goes much further. With strong coding skills he has a bent for combining this with sound to conjure new art. Very cool, but the point is we connected over a nearly identical shared interest in precisely the same things. Where two minds meet a third is born and a community sparks.
I discovered a master cheese maker (try the gouda), who sourced from her Jersey cattle, ostrich and lamb farmers, unique pickles, leather, jewelry, raw milk and all from locally owned and thoughtfully run farms and craftspeople.
I met a funny, talkative seamstress, ate amazing habañero caramel corn from the sweetest popper you’ve ever met, and bought fresh LOCAL veggies. Where else? One woman who makes topicals and bakes with beef tallow gave me the most succulent and seductive brownie I’ve ever had.
Finally, the expression that kept coming from everyone was the gratitude for Forest Service Park for leasing the new spot. “It’s sooo much better than the previous asphalt we were on” – direct quote from several vendors. It’s amazing what integral people can accomplish when they go for it! The price for a booth is crazy affordable. And so I ask, what would you sell if you ran one next year? What will you find next week? In any case, it’s more than worth a visit to buy, it’s a chance to connect and connection is community.