Blueberries, honey, flowers and more: Dunbarton gets a new farmers’ market

Maria Donnelly arranged 60 jars of jam under her tent at Stark Farm Organic Blueberries and watched as, within 90 minutes, her supply ran out.

The following week she doubled her inventory but sold out just as quickly. Now, with the Dunbarton farmers’ market entering its third week, Donnelly and the vendors she hosts at the top of her driveway every Friday afternoon are expecting a hat trick.

“We feel like we might be onto something here. We know many of the customers because they come on the farm to pick our blueberries, and they’ve all wanted something like this. Men and women alike, kids are here jumping up and down,” she said. “There are hundreds of people who’ve come up each night.”

As far as Donnelly knows, there’s never been a farmers’ market in Dunbarton where she and her husband Chip Donnelly raise honey bees and farm 340 organic blueberry bushes. This summer she decided to act on her dream of filling that void. The Dunbarton farmers’ market opened on Friday, July 11, with 10 vendors, each one selling distinct local products.

Without duplicates competing for the same dollars — and without being charged a fee to set up and sell — each vendor has its time in the sun.

All vendors need, according to Donnelly, is general liability insurance and a commitment to the market’s four hours of operation that they can honor. “It’s really just that easy,” she said.

For her own business the market has been an unexpected, but welcome, boon.

The Donnellys sell honey, jams, blueberry cake donuts, whoopie pies and copies of “that cute little book,” Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey. During the busy season, a six-week period in early- to mid-summer, Stark Farm Organic Blueberries would open to the public for pick-your-own visitors six days a week. Now, as they pick more and more blueberries to keep up with demand at the farmers’ market, the Donnellys have restricted their hours of operation to only two or three days a week.

“We’re so heavily picked. My husband and I are walking through the bushes and we’re going, ‘We’re closed for the next five days,’” she said. “When I sit down and do the numbers it has probably at least doubled the sales. We’re so very happy, we get to visit our daughter in Maine, we’re feeling some nice freedom to enjoy the things that summer is all about.”

Accommodating their eager customers has posed parking challenges, and so has managing no-show vendors. But by and large, Dunbarton’s new market has been a homegrown success.

The market is open every Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. at 30 Stark Lane in Dunbarton. It will close on Aug. 29.

Read below for more information about farmers’ markets across Merrimack County from the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food:

Canterbury Community Farmers’ Market

9 Center Road, Canterbury

June 4 – Oct. 1 | Wednesdays, 4-6:30 p.m.

Concord Farmers’ Market

Capitol Street, Concord

May – October | Saturday, 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Dunbarton Farmers’ Market

30 Stark Lane, Dunbarton

July 11 – Aug. 29 | Fridays, 3-7 p.m.

Franklin Farmers’ Market

4 Smith Street / Central Street, Franklin

June 19 – Sept. 11 | Thursdays, 3 – 6 p.m.

Hooksett NH Farmers Market

1292 Hooksett Road, Hooksett

May – October | Second Sunday each month, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Salisbury Farmers’ Market

645 Old Turnpike Road, Salisbury

June – September | Mondays, 3 – 6 p.m.

Warner Area Farmers’ Market

5 East Main St., Warner

May – October | Saturdays 9 am – 1 p.m.

Wilmot Farmers Market

9 Kearsarge Valley Road, Wilmot

June 14 – September | Saturdays 9 a.m. – noon

Rebeca Pereira can be reached at rpereira@cmonitor.com