We are happy to share the Market schedule for season 2023! The all volunteer Market Board continues to work behind the scenes to prepare for this season and beyond. We are excited to welcome back familiar sellers and open to new vendors. If you are interested in participating this summer please take a peek at Tips for Vendors & Ideas For Vendors. There are SO many options of goods to grow or create and share with the community. Applications for all vendors will be available in early May. Reach out to the Board with questions via email: psg.market@gmail.com
Everyone eats! One of the appealing categories of sale items each market are homegrown produce and cottage foods. The appeal of cottage foods for vendors is that they can often be created in batches vs. growing or crafting that takes places on a longer timescale. It is important to have a delicious consistent recipe AND to satisfy the Alaska guidelines for selling food. Dive in and see what requirements there are for selling food on this DEC page for Farmers Markets.
It is time for Market vendors and the community to get excited about the upcoming season!
Our next preseason event is the Start Swap (or Plant Swap). This is a warm up to The Market season, located at the 2023 Market venue Inga’s Galley, and hosted by members of the Market Board.
We will have copies of the Market Schedule, 2023 Vendor Applications, and a fun activity for kids. If you have extra starts, seeds, house plants, perennials or gardening equipment- bring it to share and trade. If you don’t, no worries, come anyway! There always seems to be extra for interested folks and we do this event to promote community interest in gardening and connections betweens veteran and new gardeners.
Our Mission: The Petersburg Market is a not-for-profit, community-focused, and volunteer-powered organization. We work to provide a space for regional vendors to sell homemade, handcrafted and homegrown items; we also provide space for hands-on service providers and appropriate local non-profit organizations.
Welcome! Our volunteer board typically meets January through May and we had our first meeting this week! In these meetings we bring our ideas together and make numerous decisions for the upcoming season including: scheduling, budgeting, organizing advertising, vendor outreach, outside of market day events, planning for and hiring a market manager. We split up the volunteer work to suit our skill sets and tackle the projects until about a month before the market- then the market manager becomes the point person and works to coordinate with vendors and begin the season. We do our best to base our choices about the season on community and vendor feedback that fits with the mission of The Market (see above). Our board is made up of volunteers that are excited to help The Market thrive and shift as needed. This year our team is: Lisa Schramek, Amy Anderson), Elizabeth Walsh, Marja Smets, Deborah Hurley, Jenna Wilson-Ashby, & Shannon McCullough. All of the board are returning members and most are current or former Market vendors. Those collective years of experience planning and running small businesses are invaluable to creating a successful Market that creates opportunities in our community.
If you are thinking about selling at The Market this year take a peek at our Vendor pages on our website and reach out to us at psg.market@gmail.com with questions about planning or expectations for sellers. Each market day is a separate commitment and while we encourage participation in multiple days, some vendors only participate once. Official registration for the 2023 season will begin in May when the market manager begins their seasonal paid position. You need a business license to participate as a seller at the Market so contact Camie at the Petersburg Borough to get that squared away ahead of time. Local non-profit organizations are also encouraged to participate. The Market is an excellent spot to share your mission, upcoming events, and meet people in the community that might not know about your work or events. Take a look at our Get Involved page if you are curious about The Market. We look forward to seeing you this summer!- Lisa
Welcome to The Market Website! We encourage you to dive into our resources and suggestions. Our all volunteer board is on break for the holidays and will begin monthly preseason meetings in January to set up the season. Some topics you might like to weigh in on: when to hold Market days, where to hold Market days, what information do you need about The Market, How can we best reach you? If you have comments and suggestions to share please email us at psg.market@gmail.com and we will follow up. We will try our best to set up a successful season for vendors and community. Help us improve our communication systems by letting us know how you like to receive Market related information and updating your contact information with us! See you in the New Year. – Lisa & the Market Board
We are hosting this social to provide a space for creative people in our community to visit about their work. This is an informal event, we will be: sharing about upcoming projects, reflection on selling, and general visiting with others that have similar interests. You are welcome to bring samples, ideas, and questions to share. All ages are welcome! We hope to see a mix of experienced summer vendors, sellers who participate at Oktoberfest or other events, as well as people who enjoy creative hobbies and would like to mingle.
The idea for this event came from talking with several vendors about the process of designing their displays and how helpful it is to have a fellow vendor to share ideas with. We all have different obstacles to overcome and challenges to manage when sharing our handmade and homegrown items with the public. We hope to connect people with hobbies or small businesses and perhaps spark new relationships that help people find success and enjoy the process.
Hello Market Community! The board held a wrap up meeting in September to reflect on the season and decided to hold several additional meetings this fall to generate ideas and adjust our work in response to feedback on the season. We are grateful to everyone in The Market community for taking a moment to reflect on potential improvements! Our focus as a board for 2023 is communication. We are considering how we can best reach our two interconnected audiences (vendors & market goers) so they don’t miss out on essential planning time or market days. How do you stay up-to-date with happenings about town? Reach out to us at psg.market@gmail.com with your thoughts about communication and The Market.
We have tentatively scheduled a November 2022 event for vendors and makers in the community to connect- more to come on that very soon. This will an opportunity for makers and others who are interested in similar projects to visit, share ideas, and possibly even give each other a peek at what is in the works. I think getting together to talk about our creative endeavors to an important part of sustaining creative work.
Interested in vending? The first Market Day is May 28th from 11am-1pm.
Remember to:
1. Check in on your business status with the Petersburg Borough so you are prepared to pay the required sales tax.
2. Check in with the 2022 Market Manager Brandy Mulbury to reserve a vendor spot!
Email: psg.market@gmail.com
Phone: (907) 650-7540
3. Prep your Market Day kit: this is different for everyone, but typically includes:
-bags or packaging for your items
-cash change and perhaps another way to accept $
-your handmade/homegrown product and a way to easily transport it to Inga’s Galley.
-Signage and display items for your products (and practice setting up so it comes easier on the day).
Sarah Lewis will be testing canner pressure gauges at The Market downtown at Inga’s 11-1 on May 28th. She is also offering a stellar line up of classes to support food preservation and cottage food skills. Take a look- invite a buddy- sign up for one or several!
It is that time of year for dividing perennials, weeding, and prepping for the long light days ahead. We are setting up this event and space again in the hopes of building relationships and skill trading between gardeners. We have noticed that Market days which include garden produce and cottage foods tend to be better attended and more successful. We would like to encourage Petersburgians to garden for their own pantry and consider scaling up your veg production or creating cottage foods to sell at The Market. See you there! Lisa Schramek, Market Board President 2022
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