The Farmers Market opened with a splash on June 20 at B&B Hardware. Although early in the season, the market provided enough vendors and produce

A joyful Cindy Nixon revels in the excitement of the season’s first Farmers Market on June 20. (Stephen Tool photo)

The Farmers Market opened with a splash on June 20 at B&B Hardware. Although early in the season, the market provided enough vendors and produce to satisfy the steady stream of customers. Cindy Nixon, the market’s vice chairman, sounded chipper and looked nearly recovered from her emergency surgery on June 14.

“The market just started, but it’s going really good. It was a great success in this beginning of our third year for both the farmers market and the community garden,” Nixon said.

“In the beginning we had outside farmers coming in from Lovelock and other places within a 200 mile radius. For various reasons, health being one of them, they retired from their businesses, so Mark (Nixon) and I decided to do the runs for the vegetables. We go up to Fallon a day or two ahead of market to get them,” Nixon said.

“We put the vegetables into cold storage where they stay nice and cold and are ready for market when the day comes,” Nixon added.

“We’d really like to get more vendors in here. In the beginning, we had various outside vendors coming in to the market.”  

She added that vendors should call the market ahead of time to ensure that duplicity of products is not a problem. “We want to make sure that not everyone is selling tomatoes. We want everyone’s booth to be successful,” Nixon said.

Nixon said Hawthorne residents can soon expect honey from a farm in Fallon. “It’s considered local honey, so it should be good for allergies and all of that. I have them on speed dial,” Nixon said with a laugh.

Nixon also said she was happy seniors came out in force to utilize their SNAP coupons for fresh produce. 

Mort Mortenson, one of the market vendors, also expressed satisfaction with the market business he and his wife Mary share. “It was good. We sold out. Our bread sold out instantly.”

“As the community garden gets more productive, more of that produce will come to the market as well. The community garden got a late start, but we’ll pick up,” Nixon said. She added that Green Energy Nevada students and employees are lending help to the garden this year.

“It just went really well. We sold nearly all our produce, and what we didn’t sell I’ll probably just end up canning. We even sold out on our barbecue,” Nixon said

“Every week that we hold it there’s nothing but smiles out there. It’s just a real fun and positive thing,” Nixon concluded.

People with questions about the market can call (775) 945-2437 and ask for Mark or Cindy Nixon.