Saturday is opening day at the Clear Lake Farmers Market!
Join us for first day of the Clear Lake Farmers Market on May 18th, 2024 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM in the parking lot of the Surf Ballroom & Museum as we kick-off the new farmers market season. When you visit, you’ll find a variety of local produce, baked goods (that’s us!), meat, handcrafted items, coffee, lemonade, and more will be available from 40+ vendors, along with live music and kids activities!
Here’s what we’re bringing*:
Breads
- Garlic Herb focaccia (flatbread)
- Jalapeño Cheddar focaccia (flatbread)
- Sourdough baguette
- Sourdough sandwich loaf
- Sourdough batard (more traditional shape)
- Cinnamon Swirl
- Cinnamon Raisin
- Banana
- Banana Nut
- Cranberry Wild Rice
- 7 Grain
Scones
Pies
- Strawberry Rhubarb
- and more! Currently undecided.
Jams
- Strawberry Rhubarb
- Strawberry Jalapeño
- Cherry Berry
- Raspberry Rhubarb
- Raspberry Jalapeño
- Jalapeño
- Spiced Peach
- Peach Mango
- Tomato NEW!
- Wild Plum NEW!
- Mixed Fruit jelly
Additional Food Items
- Cinnamon Roll – 2 Pack
- Cinnamon Roll – 4 Pack
- Caramel Pecan Roll – 2 Pack
- Caramel Pecan Roll – 4 Pack
- Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Apple Butter
- Marinara sauce NEW!
- Roasted Corn Salsa
- Pickled Banana Peppers
- Spicy Cowboy Candy (candied, pickled jalapeño slices) NEW!
- Italian seasoning blend
- 100% Pure Maple Syrup – 8oz
- 100% Pure Maple Syrup – 12oz
*List subject to change
This list only states what we know we’re bringing for sure (we say “for sure” with the assumption that nothing crazy will happen, like tectonic turmoil, a swarm of killer wasps, or accidentally consuming dihydrogen monoxide 🤪). As usual, the first day of a new farmers market season is exciting, but leads us to the question of “what all should we bring?” While writing this, we’re rolling around the idea of bringing one more flavor of a breakfast bread, and we’re considering which other flavors of pie we should bring this market. If you have any specific requests, call us! Our number is on our ‘Contact’ page.
3 changes to our vendor booth
First – New Spot
If you’re one of the wonderful people who visits us at the market in Clear Lake, we want to give you a heads-up that we’ve got a few changes coming this summer. The first and most important thing we want to let you know, is that we’re in a new spot. Traditionally, our booth has been next to the sidewalk and near the music (the north-east side) -we won’t be in that spot anymore! Instead, you’ll find us on the other end of the market, in the middle of the far side, away from the music (the south side). If you need a map to visualize and see this change, there’s one linked at the end of this post. Note: Only our booth within the market is moving- the Clear Lake Farmers Market is still in the Surf Ballroom parking lot.
Second – Bigger Booth
This move is because our booth is bigger (the second change)! You may have noticed last year, that we started bringing all sorts of new foods, such as our cinnamon rolls and pecan caramel rolls, as well as canned goods like jams, salsas, and pickled veggies. To bring these extra goodies, we need more space. The past few years we’ve seen you sliding between our tables, and the booths beside us, to faithfully pick out your favorite scone or find an intriguing flavor of jam, and we know it gets crowded. So, to thank you for putting up with the tight squeeze all these Saturdays, we’re upgrading our space!
Third – New Flavors
Since I mentioned new foods and extra goodies, the third and final change is something we’re already implementing. During this new year of farmers markets, we’re adding new flavors to our spread of items. Over the past 6 years (we can’t believe it’s been that long!), we’ve heard various foods and flavors suggested and requested, and a couple of those most requested flavors that we’re adding, are our new Wild Plum Jam and Tomato Jam.
What’s not changing?
Our prices and our quality!
In a time where it seems like every week the prices have gone up again, ours are staying the same. That’s one of the benefits of buying from your local farmer friends. We do our best to keep our prices down, without sacrificing quality, because we want our community to carry on enjoying the food we make. We love baking and growing food, and we love sharing it with you! So, how are we doing this? Over the winter, we looked around and we found newer, more local suppliers who deliver us premium quality ingredients at better rates than we were paying. We are delighted to continue bringing you the very best we have to offer.
The new farmers market season is here again
Since so many folks have asked us if the farmers markets are opened up yet, it’s exciting that we can finally say “Yeah, they will be! See ya Saturday!” We’ve missed all your faces, and we’re eagerly anticipating seeing them at the far side of the market, away from the music. We’ll be in a different spot within the layout of the market, but ultimately it’s still the delicious-food-providing farmers market you know and love. And, as long as you keep coming, we’ll keep bringing all the good stuff! So, you are coming, right?!😄
See ya Saturday!
I’ll say it again: the new farmers market season is here, and it starts Saturday morning. We’ll be in the Surf Ballroom parking lot from 9 AM until noon. The Clear Lake Farmers Market is the largest producer-only market in North Iowa and it’s definitely worth a stop. Feel free to put it in your calendar, or you can mark yourself as ‘going’ to the Clear Lake Farmers Market Opening Day event on Facebook, and that will give a pop-up reminder for you, too.
As promised, here’s the link for the interactive map so you can find all your favorite vendors at the market this year: http://www.clearlakefarmersmarket.com/for-customers/ We know you’ll find your way around, and we can’t wait to see you Saturday!
