Bemidji’s Natural Choice Farmer’s Market Opens for the Season

Memorial Day Weekend signals the opening season for Bemidji’s Natural Choice Farmers Market, with features products local to northwest Minnesota.

Last Saturday was the official opening day for the market, which had plenty of unique items to browse and purchase. Local farm products likely bakery treats as well as booths with home-crafted goods were available from multiple vendors.

Everyone that is a part of the market has to live within 40 miles of Bemidji, keeping everything as local as possible. And it’s set up in a unique way compared to many other farmers markets.

“We’re a nonprofit collective, essentially. The vendors that are part of the farmers market also all have stake in keeping the market managed,” explained Bemidji’s Natural Choice Farmers Market Board Member Rebecca Whiting. “For that reason, like being part of the market, our fees are very low. I’ve been to some markets and events where you have to pay 50, 60 dollars to set up a booth. Ours are 10 dollars because nobody is profiting off the existence of the market, so we have incentive to keep it managed and managed well because, you know, we all have our businesses tied up into this. So that’s different than a lot of farmers markets. A lot of farmers markets have a market manager, and we don’t we manage ourselves, and strictly on volunteer hours.”

The market is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in downtown Bemidji. Depending on the weather, they plan to remain open until late October.