As we near the holiday season, it wouldn’t feel right if we did not extend a huge thank you to our community members and market customers. We want to thank the community for coming together and following our guidelines to allow for a safe environment for each of our guests and vendors.
It is the support from our setup and breakdown volunteers; Doneta Fischer, Elaine Bello, Trisha Lasar, Katie McKay, Jordy Cornog, Chris Cornog, Pam Smarling, and Beth McGuinn, our sign volunteers; Kathy Smith and Emily Burr, our outrageously talented mask maskers; Doneta Fischer and the Canterbury Sewers, and Lulu Sachetta accepting food pantry donations, that we were able to have such a successful market this year. It is safe to say that it takes a village to make this happen!
We also want to recognize Cold Garden Spirits, Cafe Mustard Seed, Kathy Dougherty of Sanborn Meadow Farm, and Sarah Tirrell-Wysocki for the hand sanitizer and cleaning donations. If you tried out our fun hand washing station, you can thank the 4-H kids for making that for us! The musicians each week brought a bit of “normalcy” to this year’s market. Without them, the market would not have been as enjoyable!
Canterbury Farmers Market is more than just a weekly market, we support local organizations too! Just this past season, we were able to work with the Loudon Food Pantry to provide 50 $20 vouchers that Canterbury residents can use to purchase fresh foods that are not always available at the food pantry. We also had the pleasure of local Canterburian, Lulu Sachetta, joining the market this year to raise funds and dry goods for the pantry. Lulu was able to collect over $600 in funds and 363 pounds of food. That is enough for over 3,000 meals to go out to our local community!!
Our charitable giving program, Mary Ellen's Basket, is a program that is generously funded by vendors of our market, community members, and market customers. The basket is prepared on the last Wednesday of each month during the summer markets and is given to those in Canterbury that could use the additional support. By the end of each market, the basket is usually heaping full of fresh produce and baked goods that we end up filling multiple bags to give to the family!
As a final reminder, there will be no indoor winter markets this season. To remain updated on what our vendors are doing this winter, make sure to subscribe to our email list and follow us on social media! Learn more at www.canterburyfarmersmarket.com.