Staff and vendors at the De Soto Farmers Market have a lot to celebrate this season as they prepare for their ninth annual Farm to Table Dinner on Saturday.
This summer, the De Soto Farmers Market was named the best in Missouri by American Farmland Trust, as part of the national organization’s America’s Farmers Market Celebration.
It was the 16th year American Farmland Trust held a contest for farmers markets across the nation. The “people’s choice” contest asked people to email votes for their favorite market. More than 1,500 markets nationwide participated this year, and more than 97,000 votes were placed.
The De Soto Farmers Market received 723 votes, enough to be voted No. 1 in Missouri, said Morgan Sitkowski, who took over as De Soto Farmers Market manager in May.
“We tried for it in the past,” she said. “We just hadn’t had the momentum. We just really pushed it on social media this year.”
Sitkowski said the American Farmland Trust awards cash prizes to the winners.
Best in state winners, like De Soto, will receive $100 to go toward marketing, communications and other needs that help expand the market’s reach and impact.
“We get $100 and some different swag to pass out to people,” Sitkowski said.
What sets De Soto Farmers Market apart from some of the other farmers markets is that everything is local, she said.
“We do hold to a standard that anything at the market has to be produced or made or value-added within 75 miles,” she said. “It is a local-only market. There’s no MLMs (multilevel management). If it’s candles, soap or anything like that, the (vendors) are actually making them.
“I feel like some things are cheaper than the grocery store. Some things are a little more expensive, but when it’s locally made, you’re getting better quality.”
The market is open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays beginning in early May and ending in late October.
During this season, the market has had a total of 50 vendors participate, but the market averages 20-22 vendors a week, Sitkowski said.
“Some (vendors) do like every other week. Some (vendors) do once a month,” she said.
Farm to Table event
The market’s ninth annual Farm to Table Dinner will be at 6 p.m. Saturday in the pavilion at the De Soto Farmers Market, 520 N. Main St. Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased at secure.qgiv.com/for/farttab/event/901131.
The four-course meal will be made with food produced locally by the market vendors, and the menu includes a seasonal salad with smoked egg and fresh cheese; creamy squash, beef vegetable and gazpacho soups; a charcuterie board with pork loin, sourdough bread and more; and cookies, cakes and pies. Local coffee and signature Bloody Mary cocktails will be served.
In addition to food, the event will include live music, a cash bar and a gift card wheel.
“For this year, it will be the biggest fundraiser,” Sitkowski said. “We invite the community to celebrate with us and showcase our farmers. We have extra to celebrate this year because we did get voted number one in Missouri.”
The fundraiser will help the market pay market staff and fund market programs, Sitkowski said.
She said the dinner also will support the new community garden to be located in front of and around the two storage barns that are behind the market office.
“We plan on using our greenhouse in the spring and hope to have garden beds installed and planted by next garden season,” she said. “We will use this garden in coordination with the MU Extension to provide the community with gardening classes and resources. I’m really excited to implement the garden and see all the things we can do with it to benefit the community.”
Sitkowski added the market, in coordination with Impact De Soto, hosts Functional Fitness classes, a combination of stretching and drumming for all fitness levels, at 6 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays through Oct. 23. The cost is $10 a person or $15 a pair.
“It will continue in the spring of next year,” she said.
Sitkowswki said her father has been a produce vendor at the market since 2010, a year after it opened.
“I moved back to the area last August, she said. “A big reason for us to move back was to help them with the farm and everything.”
She said becoming the assistant manager in February and then the market manager in May was a great opportunity for her to spend a lot of time with her kids at home but also to be more involved in the market and the community.