The Yarmouth Farmers Market in Bickford Pavilion. Contributed / Amy Sinclair

Last week the Yarmouth Farmers Market announced in an email to vendors that the market had seen its last summer season. Market Manager Amy Sinclair said she had to make this decision because of upcoming construction at Railroad Square where the market runs in Bickford Pavilion and an inability to find another suitable location for the Yarmouth Farmers Market before having to line up vendors and sponsors for the summer season.

“In short, the market has unforgiving deadlines. I’m one volunteer, and I cannot launch an eight-month enterprise each year with uncertainty,” wrote Sinclair in the announcement.

“For all these reasons, I realized it was the right time to call it quits,” said Sinclair, who has operated the Yarmouth Farmers Market for nine years after taking over management from the town of Yarmouth.

On Jan. 22, the Yarmouth Planning Board approved Phase 1 of the Railroad Square development project. The development has been in the planning stages for five years and will infill “underutilized” land in Yarmouth Village. The completed project calls for 80 residences, as well as 10,000 square feet of commercial space and public amenities.

Phase 1 of the project consists of the construction of all infrastructure, roadways and 66 condominium and townhouse units designated for senior residents. Yarmouth Director of Planning and Development Erin Zwirko said that construction of Phase 1 is likely to start in the second half of 2025, pending all required permits are received in time.

“The town is excited about the project because it will bring new housing options, new public space at completion, new commercial space, and will likely be one of the top five … tax generators within the community. (The town) is generally excited about the new opportunities for commercial space that ultimately this project will bring to the community,” said Zwirko.

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Railroad Square, outlined in red, is the site of the new development, and has been the location of the Yarmouth Farmers Market for the last four years. Contributed / Town of Yarmouth

The Bickford Pavilion lot was privately owned and sold to Ducas Construction, the developers of the Railroad Square project. For the past four years, the lot owners allowed the Yarmouth Farmers Market to use the space for free every Thursday. In years prior, market vendors set up on the lawn of the 317 Main Community Music Center until their campus expansion made that no longer possible. Sinclair also continues to manage a smaller indoor farmers market inside the music center on Thursdays from October through December.

The Yarmouth Farmers Market is a large operation. In 2024, it operated for 33 Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m., 27 weeks outside and six weeks inside. The market sees between 400 and 600 customers each week, and features not only food from local farmers and bakers but also live music, food trucks and artists.

To plan a season of the Yarmouth Farmers Market, Sinclair typically lines up 16 seasonal vendors, 20 guest vendors, around a dozen musicians and raises $15,000 from local businesses and other community partners to support the markets and its food subsidy program. She said she did not want vendors nor donors to commit to a market that would not happen or would happen at a sub-par location.

Sinclair said she spoke with the town about potential new locations, but nothing suitable could be found.

The loss of the Yarmouth Farmers Market is already worrying regular vendors, as they look to shift their plans for the summer season.

Jim Niemi owns and operates ChiGoBee Farm in Pownal with his wife, Jodi. They have been selling their goat milk products and sourdough bread at the Yarmouth Farmers Market for three years and almost all of their product sales come from their weekly rounds to farmers markets in Midcoast Maine throughout the summer.

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“My initial thought when I first got (Sinclair’s) email wasn’t a loss of income, it was the loss of the market,” said Niemi.

The Niemis work with numerous markets – in 2024, they spent 118 days selling at farmers markets – but the Yarmouth Farmers Market was exceptional, said Jim Niemi.

“What (Sinclair) does for the town of Yarmouth, that farmers market is so huge. She is, without a doubt, the best organizer that we have ever worked with,” said Niemi.

“You know, it was just a really good market overall, and a great thing for the community,” he said.

Niemi said that he has already discussed with other vendors at the Yarmouth Farmers Market about where they will go next. Many need to find a new Thursday market now, but no other market in the area fills that slot, said Niemi.

Finding another farmers market is difficult, as they need to be on the right day and the openings are competitive. Aklilu Tsaedu, owner of Niyat Catering in Portland and vendor at the Yarmouth Farmers Market, is concerned about what would happen to his business if he does not get into another market.

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“That was my main market, which used to connect me with the customers. So (with) closure of that market, I might for some time pause my business, because I don’t even have any other plans for the summer,” said Tsaedu, who has been selling Ethiopian food at the Yarmouth Farmers Market for five years.

He is currently selling Ethiopian food from his stall at the Brunswick Winter Market, which ends in April. He has applied to sell there in the summer as well, but he is uncertain he will get in. Other smaller summer farmers markets in the area are not financially feasible for him because the lower number of customers does not cover his cost of ingredients and use of the Fork Food Lab kitchen space he pays for in South Portland.

“This is (a) good program. People come with their friends, families to try different cultural foods. So for that reason, going to places like farmers (markets) used to help me connect with potential people who need my catering service,” said Tsaedu.

“I really made many very good, supportive customers in Yarmouth. The community is really supportive for small businesses like mine. So not having that market will definitely impact me,” he said.

Town officials and developers spoke to Sinclair about possible locations of the Yarmouth Farmers Market in future summers, but Sinclair has decided this will not be under her helm regardless. She still plans to run the indoor winter portion of the Yarmouth Farmers Market from October to December of this year, and hopes there is a future for a complete and outdoor Yarmouth Farmers Market at a different location with a new leader.

“Hopefully someone else will come along with new enthusiasm and find a new location for the market, as I did when I took it over from the town in 2016,” Sinclair wrote in her announcement.

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