NORWAY — Officials and advocates of the Norway Farmers Market said they were excited to participate in a study that will offer suggestions on how to expand it and hopefully bring more business to the area.

The market is one of five in Maine chosen for the Maine Federation of Farmers Markets Market Business Assessment project. It is funded by a $60,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, according to federation Executive Director Leigh Hallett. The other markets are in Bucksport, Belfast, Calais and Presque Isle.

“It can be challenging to get funding to do work in rural communities because most funders want to show they impacted a maximum number of people,” Hallett said.

“I knew that there were great resources in Norway,” Hallett said. “I knew that the Center for Ecology-Based Economy would be a natural partner for this project (with) anything that’s going to promote the local economy, small business, agriculture, local food. It was a natural mix.”

Hallett hired Vance Corum of Farmers Market America to help. Also assisting is Alfonso Morales, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Wisconsin, who designed survey tools and will create graphic reports for the five markets.

Corum came to Norway in August and spent three days meeting with members of the community. They included Main Street business owners, Healthy Oxford Hills staff, including Carl Constanzi and Kate Goldberg, members of Community Concepts Finance Corp., Ken Morse of Community Food Strategies, farmers and shoppers, according to Zizi Vlaun of the Center for Ecology-Based Economy.

Corum did interviews and had 72 surveys filled out by people at the farmers market.

“He got a lot of data from the farmers market and he met with all of the vendors after and talked about potential growth for the market,” Vlaun said.

Corum returned to Norway later in August for the first Foothills Food Festival, which consisted of a farmers market, hot food vendors, entertainment, art, farmers’ talks and information booths.

“It was good,” Vlaun said. “He saw the whole business community, he saw the farmer community and he saw the social, festive communities. We celebrated local food together.

Constanzi added, “He saw that there is energy around local food in the community as evidenced by the food festival.”

Now it’s time for Corum and Morales to put their report together.

“He will be crunching all of his numbers, analyzing all his data and ultimately he will be producing this significant and lengthy report,” Hallett said.

Corum has shared some initial ideas for the Norway market:

* Having a mix of farmers, artisans and hot food that is being sold and supported by entertainment and activities;

* Hosting the market later in the season when there is an abundance of crops available for shoppers;

* Viewing the farmers market as a business entity onto itself, instead of being composed of individual vendors;

* Casting the net far and wide to not only bring in produce and other items from farther away, but shoppers as well; and

* Growing the market by bringing demand and production up and turning the market into a community event that will draw as many people as possible and make enough profit to hire a market manager. That means increasing the diversity of vendors and providing entertainment.

“So we’re excited about seeing what the report could bring,” Vlaun said. “My hope is it is actually stuff we can seriously have a good look at and act on as a community.”

Constanzi said rural farmers markets face challenges and Norway is not exempt from them.

“You have the problem of trying to increase the demand (and) at the same time the production,” he said. “One doesn’t go up well without the other one going up well, which is the problem of trying to develop a robust local food system. That’s what we’ve been working on for the past many years. It feels like we’re starting to gain some momentum.”

One of the problems with Norway’s Farmers Market model is that a farmer — Will Simpson of Black Mountain Farm — serves as market manager.

“The farmers are running their own market, which is a strain on them,” Vlaun said. “It’s their busiest time of the whole year when they’re trying to meet their demand, yet having to manage and promote the market at the same time.” 

For more information on the project, contact Hallett at [email protected] or 487-7114. 

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