September 23rd 2023 Farmers Market

Market Review Sept. 16^th

By Paul Bullock & Mary Gates

Our  recent downpours and cooler temperatures were very welcome. No worries about extreme heat for the Market…the morning was beautiful! We set up in Charles Adams Studio Project courtyard for the fourth time this year, as the Lubbock Renaissance Fair took our usual spot in the LHUCA Plaza. We are so grateful for CASP’s Chad Plunket’s assistance during this Market season.

Our vendor count was low due to, once again, several events around the city, including the Renaissance Fair. There were concerns that the low vendor count might not work too well for us, but boy, were we wrong! Lords and Ladies, Franciscan Padres, men in kilts, Hooded Plague Doctors and people young and old in Renaissance costumes of all kinds flooded our Market from around 10:30 until after 3:00. Heck, even Rapunzel stopped by asking for directions! It was the first time that the Lubbock Downtown Farmers Market was unable to close at it’s usual time of 1:00 pm due to overwhelming foot traffic. It was crazy! Crazy fun for all! Our vendors were swamped and I venture to say we all had the most successful Market ever! The sounds of medieval blacksmiths pounding iron and lecturing, music from the Renaissance and bagpipes filled the air.

The CASP print shop classes headed by Joe Clifford and Eddy Grigsby were in progress, which brought some other folks to our Market. There were also those who showed up expecting the normal Market morning, who I am sure enjoyed the enhanced experience as much as we did. The morning flew by, and most vendors slowly packed up after 2:00 pm, either because they sold completely out or were just exhausted! The tempo slowed and our 17^th Market of the season came to an incredible end.

We didn’t forget to award our favorite dog visitor Tornado Industrial/Arts Dog of the Day. This beautiful boy is Justice. He swept the competition and became our Dog of the Day! Attaboy Justice!

It is really hard to explain how one minute you might be a little worried that things will not work out as planned, only to have the notion fall on it’s face and the opposite becomes true. We at the Market certainly found that to be true. Thank you to all our visitors, especially those that attended the Lubbock Renaissances Fair and strolled over to support our Market. Now that these new customers know about our Market we hope they will come back and visit us again soon. Thanks to everybody for a spectacular day. We will be back in the LHUCA Plaza next Saturday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

While there are still new vendors we haven’t had the chance to highlight, this week we want to talk about Aileen Everett with SUNBURST. While Sunburst Market and Sunburst Farm have been a Lubbock staple for decades, this past year saw some changes. The family is now leasing out their land, yet Aileen is committed to keeping the legacy alive. She and her husband Doug, along with other members of the family, are continuing to grow vegetables and offer a wide variety of canned goods. When growing conditions are challenging here, Aileen taps resources in other areas to provide high quality produce for us. Go see the pretty tomatoes from Tennessee, grab some black eyes peas & okra, and pick up some salsa, jam, apple butter, or pickled garlic ( just to mention a few of the items available). SUNBURST is reinventing itself, but always with quality in mind.

Thanks to everyone who came to our market this week and we hope to see you next week for the LDFM on the LHUCA plaza at 5^th Street and Avenue J from 9:00AM until 1:00PM.