The month of pumpkins. Those globes of orange and gold fill the farms around us now, and provide endless goodies for consumption or decoration. From pies to pumpkin spiced drinks, tiny ones used as table décor to huge ones filling the back of a pickup, the pumpkin is celebrated throughout the country as a squash everyone can love.
At the market we honor pumpkins and have a festival dedicated to them. For the past 35 years the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market Pumpkin Festival has been held on the last week of October. This year’s event on Oct. 26, from 8:30 to 11 a.m., includes racing decorated pumpkins down a quaint, wooden track built for the races. Additionally, participants can carve pumpkins at the market, or bring one from home. And a market-inspired costume contest is a wonderful way to see the communities’ creativity. Great prizes donated by local businesses, plus Market Bucks, which can be spent at any of the vendors’ booths, makes the competitions worth entering.
Market Bucks! They’ve become very popular this season. They aren’t just prizes anymore. You can purchase them with your credit card at the Information Booth, and use them to shop the market. Many of our food product and crafts vendors take credit/debit cards, but most of our farms don’t. If you need cash, come to us and we’ll set you up with the next best thing.
This time of year shopping the market is a luxurious experience. The farm stalls are brimming with the last of remnants of summer, yet we’re near the end of fall as well. Plums, peaches and nectarines remind us they were the stars just a month ago. Now apples, figs and pears move to center stage, and will soon share the spotlight with citrus.
About the time grapefruit and mandarins begin to show up at farmers markets, we’re closed for the season. The last Saturday of November is always our final day. Some customers and vendors have asked why we’re not open year ‘round. Many are open all year, such as the Santa Rosa markets, Sebastopol, Cloverdale, Calistoga and Napa. Why not Healdsburg? So I put this question to the vendors and the answers were clear. A year ‘round market was not something of interest to the majority. There were so many reasons not to do it.
The primary one was from the farmers; they have nothing to sell. Unlike markets which allow farms from the central valley and southern California, our market is very local-centric. 90% of our farms are located within thirty miles of our central Healdsburg parking lot. The winter months are not a time for this area to overflow with produce production.
The weather was another sensible objection. Although we’d like to a do a market which only happens when it’s comfortable outside, to be consistent we should be rain or shine. Most vendors have done markets in the rain, wind or freezing temperatures, and know the challenges.
A perspective which never occurred to me was by extending the market it would be hurting the economies of the other local markets, who get some of our vendors in the winter months.
The one that hit closest to home was the idea that having a seasonal market makes it special. People are excited when we open, and sad when we close. If we were available all year we’d be like a weekly grocery store. Always there, just changing what’s available. It’s like the opening of a show. You never know what to expect.
We have the rest of October and the whole of November to enjoy this unique and delightful market. Join us and find out why we’re beloved in the community, and known throughout the county as a farmers’ market worth checking out.
Janet Ciel is the manager of the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market. She can be reached at
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