Left, the downtown farmer’s market. (stevenspointfarmersmarket.org)

By Brandi Makuski

The downtown farmer’s market is making the phrase “buy local” a little more official.

The City of Stevens Point has approved ordinance changes for the farmer’s market in an effort to keep out non-local growers, reducing the area from which produce is considered “local” and therefore able to sold at the downtown square.

The Farmer’s Market Association (FMA) requested a reduction from 60 to 30 miles in radius from the downtown market, in an effort to keep the vendor list manageable and closer to home.

Vendors outside this range can no longer get a permit to sell at the farmer’s market unless they’ve been grandfathered in

“We have a large problem with people who want to buy wholesale and sell retail,” said Dan Mielke, market compliance manager for the FMA. “In order to maintain the integrity (of the market), we have to visit the farms to make sure vendors are growing their own stuff.”

Mielke added farms are checked by FMA volunteers to ensure it’s local, so the reduction in range is also beneficial for those volunteers who’ve now had their routes cut in half.

But ensuring location isn’t the only problem. Public Works Director Scott Schatschneider said the market has an “awfully long” list of vendors wanting a spot on the marketplace.

“They have more than enough folks trying to get in; the number of people wanting to sell is overwhelming,” he added.

Mielke said two Amish families who operate outside the new 30- mile range, but within the old 60- mile range, have been grandfathered in because they have sold produce and other goods at the market for several consecutive years. Other items not locally available, such as Door County cherries, can also be permitted under the ordinance change with FMA approval, Mielke said.

“We tried to make it so the farm shed, the economic base that comes to the farmer’s market stays in the Stevens Point Area,” he added.

“We have one of the best farmer’s markets in the state, which is a ‘grow your own’ market. There are communities that want to flood us here, and pretty soon you’d have no local farmers. We’re trying to protect it now before it grows too big,” Mielke said.

The market operates from May to October each year.