Weekly arts and crafts fair planned for spring
Morgan Hill – Thanks to Morgan Hill farmers’ market advocates and BookSmart owners Brad Jones and Cinda Meister, a few vendors are still in business for the winter.
They’re tamale makers, bakers and gardeners who will now sell their wares in the parking lot of the new site of the BookSmart store on Second and Depot streets.
The merchants were selling their goods on Saturday mornings from 9:30am-1pm in the Caltrain station parking lot near the corner of Depot and Third streets during the regular farmers’ market – held during the same hours – which closed in November for the winter and will open in early May.
“It’s slow, but the farmers enjoy the business they’re getting,” Meister said. “It’s definitely worth their while.”
Jones got a temporary-use permit from the city to let vendors set up tents in his parking lot. He said the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce paid $500 for the permit after the Morgan Hill Downtown Association “did all the leg work.”
Lousy weather in recent years forced the farmers’ market to close in November because many of the 19 farmers and seven food vendors couldn’t make a profit.
Jones, who has been a longtime proponent of moving the seasonal market to Monterey Road, hopes to bring more traffic to the market by running an arts and crafts fair in his parking lot this spring.
“We’re going to invite local artists to set up a pop-up tent and sell their stuff out of the parking lot,” he said.
“I think it would be a good idea,” said Doug Hayden, director of the California Farmers’ Market Association, a Walnut Creek-based organization that runs 12 Bay Area markets including Morgan Hill’s. “As long as the crafts are quality and made by the people selling them … the events will be symbiotic.”
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or tburchyns@morganhilltimes.
