A farmers market is coming to Pembroke this summer after all.
Kellie Dyjak, a local craftswoman and resident, said she has the all-clear from the planning board to pitch up to 26 vendor stands at Town Hall every Wednesday, starting June 7.
Five vendors – who will be selling vegetables and greens, honey, crafts, and bread – were confirmed for this week, as of Wednesday.
Famous Village Pizza, the Suncook restaurant, will also be donating pizzas.
“My daughter wants to make lemonade to go with the pizza,” Dyjak said.
In addition to the five confirmed vendors, Dyjak said she’s also got 13 “maybes,” leaving plenty of room for new vendors to set up shop, whether at this market or the next one.
Dyjak, who has been working for months to organize a farmers market in town, had earlier worried that the project would need another year before coming to fruition for lack of funding. But several local businesses stepped in to offer start-up money.
“Without their sponsorships, we would never have gotten off the ground this year,” she said.
Dyjak also credited the town’s library for hosting fundraisers and offering to let the market-goers use their restrooms, which nixed the need for porta-potties.
Cynthia Stosse, the library director, said people were eager for the market to open.
“They’re excited. It’s like, ‘Oh, I can come to the library on Wednesday, get my books, get my movies.’ There’s a lot of positive feedback from the library patrons,” she said.
Stosse herself had, about a decade ago, looked into starting a market as part of her job at the library. But she said the endeavor was ultimately too big to fit into her work schedule. Nearly 10 years after she first gave it a go, she said she’s glad a market is coming to town.
“I just think it’s very important to support healthy living and the local farmers who work so hard. And it is a nice gathering place,” Stosse said.
The market will run every Wednesday, from 4:30 to 7 p.m., until the end of October, weather permitting. Dyjak said she opted for a mid-week, evening market to avoid competing with larger, more established nearby markets, which operate on the weekends.
(Lola Duffort can be reached at 369-3321 or lduffort@cmonitor.com.)