Mainebiz

V O L . X X I N O. X I I I F or farmers, getting ready for the Portland Farmers' Market often starts the evening before, with picking goods then packing crates, and continues at sunrise the next day with loading the truck, driving an hour or more and setting up tents and tables before the market opens at 7 a.m., then packing up again at 1 p.m. and arriving back home around sunset. For many farmers, the magic is in that in-between time, when the market bustles with visitors, some just mulling around and taking in the bright orange carrots and deep green kale, others seek- ing ingredients or a recipe tip for a spe- cial fresh meal, grown by local farmers. ousands of people fl ock to farm- ers markets for locally sourced food and a sense of community. ere's so much demand, in fact, that the num- ber of farmers markets in Maine is on the rise. ere are 125 this year, up from 100 in 2012 and 63 in 2007, according to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. at's in line with their steep growth nationally, from 1,755 in 1994 to 8,268 in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Marketing Service. Portland's markets — there are three of them — are among the biggest and busiest in the state. e Deering Oaks Park market runs on Saturdays and Monument Square on Wednesdays, both from about April until late fall, and the Winter Farmers' Market runs from December till late-April in the Urban Farm Fermentory Bay 1 Food Hub in Portland's East Bayside neighborhood. "We love the energy of Portland and the local food movement," says Hanne Tierney of Cornerstone Farm, a small livestock farm in Palmyra. She also is chairperson of the Portland Farmers' Market Association, comprised of the 44 member farms that sell at one or more of the association's three markets. e Portland Farmers' Market is 247 years old, and went through various transfor- mations since Portland voted to establish a public market in 1768. e Saturday market is the largest, with 40 member farms participating, followed by 29 at the Wednesday market and 18 at the winter market. Tierney says this is the fi rst year the association began counting customers regularly. Saturday's market averages about 2,000 visitors during a busy two hours. Farmers only Portland is unique, Tierney says, in that it is a farmer-only market. at means no more than 25% of the items off ered by members can be products produced or raised by someone other Hanne Tierney of Cornerstone Farm at the farmers market in Deering Oaks Park in Portland. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Number of Maine farmers markets has doubled in nearly a decade B y L o r i V a l i g r a Portland Farmers' Market J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 1 5 16

• Cover