The Community Market is back but this time in a different location, as it held its first event Aug. 5 at Faith Community Church located on County Road 210 in St. Johns.
The farmers market made its return after a few-month hiatus while they looked for a new host site. It will be held on the first Saturday of each month moving forward.
“I’ve been managing farmer’s markets now for 10 years,” said Julie Olsson, who is instrumental in overseeing and operating the market, having been a restaurant manager for a decade in St. Augustine.
According to Olsson, the market was initially started in March 2020 and took place at Beachwalk.
This is not the first time the market has been sidelined as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and forced the postponement shortly after it got off the ground the first time.
“When we came back after the pandemic we resumed at Beachwalk for about a year and a half,” Olsson said. “The community had just gotten so big that they wanted us to just do the market in the winter, but we could not do that to our vendors.”
For Olsson, the vendors are one of the main reasons for the market, because it is the perfect opportunity for local artisans and business owners to showcase their products to the public.
“This is their livelihood for many of them, so they are as much dependent upon it taking place as the residents who search around in the hopes of finding such a market,” Olsson said.
She understands that because she spent time as a restaurant manager for a decade in St. Augustine.
The name Community Market was created since Faith Community Church is the new location of the market, which is striving to be hub for the community when it takes place each month.
“It really fits perfectly with Nocatee, which has its market every third Saturday of the month,” Olsson said. “It’s all about helping your fellow neighbors and vendors with whatever is needed. That family atmosphere is what we’ve established here.”
One of the market’s rules is that everything a vendor brings to sell must be homemade or hand created, which Olsson believes is not only what residents are looking for at such a market, but it is something they can rely on.
Vendor items at the market are part of a wide range that includes everything from artwork to soaps and food.
Although the move created some time away from the public, the location change is something Olsson believes will work out better for the Community Market in the future.
One of the biggest differences is that the market now takes place on a grass field, instead of a paved parking lot.
“It makes a huge difference, especially when the sun is beating down on that pavement,” Olsson said. “It’s just a better scenario for everyone involved.”
The Community Market had 50 vendors for its first Saturday event since its return, which according to Olsson is a great number to build upon.
“There’s definite room to grow with the current situation,” Olsson said. “Markets like this are such staples of a community. I can only imagine what this will all be like.”
