NORWAY — The first day of the Saturday Market last weekend at the Norway Grange, was a huge success, according to Norway Downtown President Andrea Burns.

The market is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Dec. 19 at the recently renovated Norway Grange on Whitman Street, and includes baked goods, meat, poultry, produce, wood products and much more.

The market is an initiative of Norway Downtown and offers what is being billed as “products of the earth and animal” from local farmers and artisans, Burns said.

“The market was very successful and vendors said they had a better day than any one day at the summer markets,” she said.

The market was set up to help continue the successful tradition of the Norway Farmer’s Market, held every Thursday throughout the summer and early fall in the municipal parking lot behind the Fare Share market on Main Street.

With the Norway Farmer’s Market closing due to cold weather this month, Norway Downtown agreed to support the creation of an indoor space with a donation of $1,000 to the Norway Grange. The money is being put toward the paint fund, Burns said.

The Norway Grange, which held the centennial celebration of its building on Whitman Street on Sunday, has raised about $7,000 in donations and received $10,000 from a State Grange loan, to repaint the exterior. The Grange still needs another $10,000 to pay the Phil Smith Painting Co. in Oxford for the work they recently completed.

The Saturday Market has attracted many of the same vendors from the Norway Farmer’s Market as well as many new vendors.

ldixon@sunjournal.com