C OLLINGSWOOD FA RM ER S M AR K ET EI GH TEENTH SEA S ON...

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1 David Hodges, Market Director Borough of Collingswood 678 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood NJ A project of the Borough of Collingswood Dear Market Participants, FEB 15, 2017 Welcome to the Collingswood Farmers Market Pre-Season! In less than three months, we ll be getting together again to celebrate the bounty of our local farms and food producers at the eighteenth season of New Jersey s favorite farmers market. We can t wait. We ll host a small rotating roster of guest vendors throughout the season, and we ll welcome artists and crafters for the 6th Annual Handmade Holidays. We ll also celebrate one another and our success with the annual Vendor Appreciation Luncheon on Saturday, September 23. Market Director David Hodges will be the go-to guy on site on Saturdays. Cass Duffey will handle advertising and sponsor relations. Aimee Eckert administers the Art and Craft participants. And Tricia Burrough will lead the Friends of the Farmers Market (FOFM). Anne O Donnell Vogelman will book musicians for the East Stage; Ted Velykis for the West Stage. Prices have stayed the same for 2016, and like last year, legacy vendors may elect to pay for the full season in advance or pay 1/2 upfront and 1/2 on or before July 09. Call David with any questions at (856) With luck (and 26 sunny Saturdays, plus November) this will be our best season ever! No Fooling Around! The Prepaid Application Deadline is April Fools Day, Saturday, April 01! David Hodges Market Director PAGE 1 OF 6

2 2017 Market Rules for All Vendors The Farmer/Grower category includes producers of agricultural and landscape products, herbs, flowers, seafood, meats, eggs, honey, and dairy PURPOSE The purpose of the Collingswood Farmers' Market is to bring fresh, locally grown fruits, vegetables and agricultural products to our local residents who can walk to our market, and to the residents of surrounding communities. This mission helps to enrich the adjacent business district, to sustain our Garden State s agricultural heritage, and to create accessibility to freshly picked, healthy local fruits and vegetables grown by local farmers. OPERATION The market is operated as a community service by the Borough of Collingswood from May through November. Managers receive stipends to plan, manage, and promote the market. Farmers/Growers sell their farm-grown or farm-produced products directly to local customers at the market. Except by special permission, growers do not re-sell purchased products at the market. Permission, when granted, is to fill gaps in harvests, to provide access to regional produce not grown in New Jersey, or to offer local products to our customers which no Market vendor grows. No Farmer/Grower has exclusive rights to sell a product purchased from a third party. Purchases for resale are the exception rather than the rule and require prior approval from the Market Director. The market rules are the standards by which the Collingswood Farmers' Market operates. Growers must abide by these standards; failure to adhere to the standards may result in suspension or revocation of a grower's permission to sell. REGISTRATION FOR REGIONAL GROWERS The region for the market is defined as New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Growers from the region are eligible to apply to sell at the Collingswood Farmers' Market. New Jersey growers are given first priority. Interested Farmers/Growers must complete a Grower Application Form and a Crop List (listing crops or products to be sold at the market) and submit these documents to the Collingswood Market with a $50.00 application fee made payable to the Collingswood Farmers' Market by Saturday, April 01, Applications are available from the Collingswood Farmers' Market. Farmers from 2016 will be given priority for spaces in After April 01, unclaimed spaces if any will be assigned for the 2017 season at the discretion of the Market Director. Registration fee is waived for full-season payment in full. New farmers or vendors may be added at the discretion of the Director for the purpose of selling new and interesting local produce or processed local food to the public. Farmers/Growers who grow a product locally will always be preferred over Farmers/Growers who purchase products for resale. TIME The Collingswood Farmers' Market is open every Saturday from 8 am to noon from the first Saturday in May through the last Saturday in October. A November schedule is offered at an additional charge. All vendors shall arrive at the market site by 7 am and be set up to sell when the market opens at 8 am. Growers should not start selling before 8 am. No vehicles may drive into, through, or out of the Market after 7:30 am. Farmers and Vendors may not leave the Market before the Market closes at noon. PAGE 2 OF 6

3 SPACES Farmers/Growers will be assigned to selling locations by the Site Manager. First priority goes to vendors who prepay the entire season. Second priority goes to vendors with a prepaid schedule. Third priority goes to pay-by-the-day vendors who attend every week. Fourth priority is given to vendors who attend sporadically. Failure to arrive by 7 am may result in loss of familiar location or forfeiture of space for the day. Vendors provide the Manager a current Day-of-Market cell phone for emergency use. No particular spaces are guaranteed. The Site Manager will move vendors as needed to meet Market objectives. This may result in vendors, particularly day-pay vendors, occupying different spaces from week to week. PERMISSION TO SELL Permission to sell will be assigned subject to approval by the Market Director. Priority is given to growers who have satisfactorily participated in the Market in the past. After returning growers have been accepted, the Director will consider growers who have sent in their application fees together with other required application material. Returning non-growers are also given consideration, but no vendor has the right to return to the Market. Application fees will be refunded if the application is denied. Permission is granted to returning or to new applicants to meet Market objectives, which are subject to change. New Jersey agriculture products have the highest priority. New Jersey foods such as meats, fish, poultry, dairy, honey, herbs, and horticultural products also receive strong consideration. To add variety to the Market, spaces may be given to baked goods, processed foods, and regional foods not grown in New Jersey. Highly-processed foods are not encouraged. Non-domestic foods are not encouraged. SIGNAGE AND LABELING Each grower must have signs listing prices of every item offered for sale. Each grower must also display prominent signage identifying the farm and its location. Growers shall not begin selling until all price and identification signs are posted. THE TABLECLOTH PLAN FOR RESALE PRODUCTS Our market s success relies heavily on our customers preference to buy local, and to buy directly from the growers of the food they buy. Our customers have the right to expect that what they buy is grown locally, by you, and is therefore Jersey Fresh. The burden to inform them otherwise is yours. With permission, you may sell products not produced on your own farm but the burden is yours to identify them as such by displaying them on tables covered with readily-identifiable tablecloths. 1. Green-and-White Tablecloth Products: Produce from other New Jersey Farms. Jersey Fresh products purchased by you from other Jersey farms for resale. 2. Red-and-White Tablecloth Products: Exotic produce from other states. Agricultural products purchased by you from farms outside of New Jersey, identified by state. 3. Non-compete with other vendors Under no circumstances may you offer for resale produce currently available from another Collingswood Farmers Market vendor without the expressed permission of that vendor. ORGANIC CERTIFICATION Organic growers must display a sign giving their organic growers' certification. Certification must be approved by the United States Department of Agriculture, and the farm must be named in the USDA Organic Integrity database, easily verified by the Market Director. Growers who offer both organic and non-organic produce will physically separate organic from nonorganic produce and clearly label each to eliminate confusion. PAGE 3 OF 6

4 ATTENDANCE The Market expects growers to be at the market for dates checked on the application form. No refunds are given for dates missed. Call Market Director David Hodges by Friday morning to alert him to any anticipated problems or likely absences. (856) Home Office. MARKET FEES Vendors pay a market fee to sell at the Market, detailed in the 2017 Fee Schedule. Vendors are offered discounted rates for reducing Market operating expenses by prepaying for the season. For full-season legacy vendors who pay a $50 Registration fee, an installment plan is also available. MAYFAIR DAY: EXCEPTIONS TO USUAL RULES The Collingswood Farmers' Market is ON Irvin Avenue for Mayfair Saturday every year. This year s Mayfair is Saturday, May 27. Participants receive a separate letter regarding this date. It is important to note that ALL spaces are assigned the week before Mayfair and that vendors are required to arrive and take their spaces on a pre-determined schedule. There is no additional fee for the Irvin Avenue location; however, the Mayfair committee will charge an additional fee for vendors choosing to sell on Haddon Avenue for the entire Mayfair day. Only Springdale Farm routinely sets up on Haddon Avenue. INSURANCE A certificate of liability insurance is required from all farmers and vendors with a minimum umbrella liability of $2,000,000 coverage naming the several entities as Additional Insured parties. Insurance certificates must be submitted on or before the first day of the market. Sample language: Collingswood Farmers Market, Borough of Collingswood, Collingswood Partners Inc, Delaware River Port Authority and Port Authority Transit Corporation are included as additional insured with respect to their interest in the work performed by the insured at the Collingswood Farmers' Market. A sample Insurance Indemnification Certificate is included on Page 6. TABLES Growers will set up their tables as determined by the Market Site Manager, so that no grower blocks or limits the view or access of customers to neighboring stalls, or interferes with the easy flow of pedestrians through the Market. SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT Growers and vendors must supply their own scales, bags, tables, awnings, or tents, and other items needed to serve customers. Growers will limit "supermarket type packaging. The Market is not responsible to supply storage space for equipment. Vendors leave equipment at the Market location at their own risk. APPROPRIATE DRESS AND CONDUCT Growers and their help must wear shirt, trousers, shorts, skirts or dresses, and shoes. Growers and their help should be honest and courteous at all times. No smoking is permitted at any Market location by vendors, customers, or Market visitors. SITE SANITATION Each grower and vendor must have a trashcan and a broom at the market. On-site trash cans are for patron trash only. Growers and vendors must clear their sales and truck areas of refuse at the end of the Market day and take refuse away for disposal elsewhere. PAGE 4 OF 6

5 LEGAL COMPLIANCE AND PUBLIC SAFETY Farmers/Growers must comply with all federal, state, and local regulations concerning public health, safety and welfare. Vehicle and pedestrian traffic surround the Market. Vendors must exercise extreme caution in moving vehicles and when unloading, reloading, and departing the Market. Municipal One Way and Do Not Enter signs must be heeded. Vehicle traffic through the Market, when it is permitted, is One-Way from the West entrance to the East entrance. Vehicles yield to pedestrians in every situation. No vehicle may be driven into, through, or out of the Market after 7:30 am. FARM INSPECTIONS Farm inspections are a regular annual activity for farmers' market managers in other areas (including North Jersey). This is done at the farmers' expense and to insure that products sold are actually grown on these farms. The Collingswood Farmers' Market reserves the right to have conducted an official independent inspection of any noncompliant farm, at a cost of $ to the grower, if rules regarding signage, food labeling, and resale of purchased foods are not followed. DISPUTES The Market Site Manager is responsible for managing the operation of the Market. Farmers/Growers should direct any suggestions, questions or complaints, verbally or in writing, to the Market Site Manager, who shall have the final word in settling disputes. Farmers/Growers and other vendors are expected to handle themselves and their operation with honesty, integrity, cooperation and respect for their fellow vendors at all times. No vendor shall comment negatively on the quality of the products sold by any other grower or vendor to any customer, and vendors will insure that their employees are equally discreet. Disrespect for any vendor compromises the integrity of our market. Management reserves the right to suspend participation of anyone doing so. Free Promotional Opportunities Fundraising for Collingswood Organizations With approval in advance from the Market Director, nonprofit local organizations or community groups may attend limited dates for awareness-raising or fund-raising activities. Crafter Spaces One space per week is allocated, when available, for a Featured Artist or crafter, approved in advance and paid for by the vendor at Day-Pay rates. Space is also provided, in the month of November, for many juried, pre-approved local vendors to sell their own local hand-made crafts. BID Program for Non-Selling Business Promotion Collingswood businesses that are members of the BID program may sign up to promote their business in any available BID tent, free of charge, provided they do no selling in the tent. This business promotion opportunity is our helpful gesture to local businesses that wish to promote their products and services. BID Program for Food Sales For a weekly table fee, Collingswood BID members who produce food products may also participate in the Market at a special rate to be determined by the Collingswood Farmers Market and BID. Mike DiBartolo books these special BID tents in advance. Market Sponsor Promotions Market sponsors are welcome to set up a table and tent on any Saturday when space is available, with advance notice to the Market Manager. PAGE 5 OF 6

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