Noble Gardeners’ Market seeks sellers for 2019 season

Susan Sanders sold plants and flowers at one of last year's Noble Gardeners' markets. [photo by Brenda H. May]

Noble Gardeners’ Market will take place each Saturday, July 20 through Sept. 21, 10 a.m. to noon, at the intersection of Noble and Roanoke roads. The market’s mini-park venue is one block north of Monticello Boulevard.

The Noble Gardeners’ Market will need many sellers to meet the demand experienced in 2018, in a three-week test launch of the market late last summer. People came from Cleveland Heights and nearby cities to learn how they could sell and buy excess fruits, vegetables and flowers. The greatest interest was from neighbors who wanted to buy fresh vegetables from neighbors.

As you plant this spring in your backyard or in community gardens, plant extra crops to sell. This is a market of neighbors selling from the abundance of what they grow themselves. Growers from outside the Noble neighborhood are welcome to sell as long as they are not market gardener/farmers. (This is not a “farmer’s” market—no truckloads of produce will be permitted. But yes, do support local farmers at other venues.) 

Sellers will not be charged for booth space, but will need to bring their own table or ground cloth, and be able to make change for their customers.

Sellers may peddle fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers grown in their own yards or community garden plots in Cleveland Heights or nearby cities.

Sellers may not offer processed foods. The Ohio Department of Agriculture regulates cottage foods, home bakery foods and cannery foods. As an all-volunteer market that charges no vendor fees, Noble Gardeners’ Market does not have the staffing capacity to monitor and enforce state regulations regarding processed foods.

Prospective sellers can find additional information online at www.nobleneighbors.com.

Noble Gardeners’ Market is designed to build community on several levels. Backyard gardeners certainly won’t bring bushels of produce, but will bring their dozens of extra peppers, tomatoes or flowers to sell. Vendors sold out quickly in the 2018 test market, but buyers and sellers stayed on for the good conversations. Neighbors shared memories of gardening with their grandparents, reserved plots in community gardens, and purchased lovely bouquets of cut flowers. Strangers left as friends, all talking about the next growing season and market potential.

Noble Neighbors is grateful for the support that the city of Cleveland Heights is extending to the Noble Gardeners’ Market, and invites the community to join as sellers, buyers, or both.

Brenda H. May

Brenda H. May is one of the Noble Neighbor leaders. Check out their story at www.nobleneighbors.com.

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Volume 12, Issue 4, Posted 12:11 PM, 04.01.2019