Organizing a New Farmers Market in Springfield, Mo.

[Mike L. McCamish]

  We have an excellent location for a permanent farmers market here in Springfield at 1835 E. St. Louis St. just off Glensone..  It has 66 initial outdoor vendor spaces, 8 initial indoor vendor spaces, restrooms, and attached parking for 88 cars. We also have room to expand with 40 additional outdoor sapces and 16 additional indoor spaces in the near future. The property also has a building that housed a small cafe since the 60's that's available.

  If you have any interest selling your locally grown produce, meats, dairy, bakery, or garden oriented products, at a permanent market, please contact me Mike McCamish at 417 224-5691, or drive by and I'll show you what we're trying to do. 

  We want to create a place where everyone can get together with the common goal of raising our own food, learning to prepare and preserve our own food, swapping produce with other gardeners, or selling your excess produce. The possibilities are endless with so many newly interested gardeners.

[Mike L. McCamish]

Alison, Thanks for your interest in our project. I would love to meet with you and talk about the vision we have for the market, and your area of expertise. We open Sat. May 1st. and there is much to do. I'm here at the market everyday, including today. Call me at 224-5691 or just come by.

Alison Szczawinski said:

Mike,
Will you need any help setting up for/organizing this location? I am a Dietetic Intern at Cox College and would love to get volunteer hours helping you get this off of the ground. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance!
[e-mail]
Thanks,
Alison

[Matthew Groves]

I haven't been by yet. Did you open? All running smoothly?

[Mike L. McCamish]

Hey Mat. Yes we did open May 1st. We had a good responce of about 300+ customers and all the vendors sold out. Everyone is gearing up for more volume now. We have Real Farm Foods with grass fed & gras finished beef, pork, lamb, chicken & eggs.Ozark Mountain Orchards with strawberries now, blueberries next week, some tomatos, potatoes, red & yellow onions. Ozark Mountain Coffee & Tee Co.
with a full assortment of product to sample, have a cup or take home a bag. Sisters In Thyme with a full assortment of home made breads & herb mixes. Dixies Country Cookin with homemade cookies, granola bars, and muffins. The Nut Man with a full assortment of roasted glazed nuts. Total Organix with a full assortment of produce. Caprock Canyon Farm has hypertupha planters & produce. Out Of The Woods has live & silk flower arrangements. The Rib Shack will be with us soon with BBQ. The Ole Goat Bath Emporium with soaps & skin care products. And many more. Come see us. We want to meet you.

Matthew Groves said:

I haven't been by yet. Did you open? All running smoothly?

[Benjamin Stange]

I work at Great Southern nearby. I've been pushing this market to as many of my 260 coworkers in this building as I can. We're getting ready to expand our building, so if you interested in getting involved in this market, I can tell you that there are a lot of interested folks very nearby.

I've been a semi-regular so far and look forward to swing this market grow!

Ben

Mike L. McCamish said:

Hey Mat. Yes we did open May 1st. We had a good responce of about 300+ customers and all the vendors sold out. Everyone is gearing up for more volume now. We have Real Farm Foods with grass fed & gras finished beef, pork, lamb, chicken & eggs.Ozark Mountain Orchards with strawberries now, blueberries next week, some tomatos, potatoes, red & yellow onions. Ozark Mountain Coffee & Tee Co. with a full assortment of product to sample, have a cup or take home a bag. Sisters In Thyme with a full assortment of home made breads & herb mixes. Dixies Country Cookin with homemade cookies, granola bars, and muffins. The Nut Man with a full assortment of roasted glazed nuts. Total Organix with a full assortment of produce. Caprock Canyon Farm has hypertupha planters & produce. Out Of The Woods has live & silk flower arrangements. The Rib Shack will be with us soon with BBQ. The Ole Goat Bath Emporium with soaps & skin care products. And many more. Come see us. We want to meet you.
Matthew Groves said:

I haven't been by yet. Did you open? All running smoothly?

[Paul Trout CEC]

Hi Mike I want to sell olive oil, are you open Thursday, Friday and Saturday? What times? What space? The oil is in. Thanks Paul Trout

[Mike L. McCamish]

Hey Paul, Yes we are open evey week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 8:00am to 6:00pm.
Come on by, we would love to have you here with the olive oil. Good idea. Lets pull it all together and cook something up and feast out. We've been wanting to get together with you. Mike McC.

[Dale Wayne Jackson]

Hey Mike...Just uploaded your video [A Nice Day At The Farmers Market], which highlights
the people, sights and sounds at The Eastland Farmers Market ...Now open 4 days a week. Wed.-Sat., 8:00am-6;00pm.

[Ruell Chappell]

This is a great opportunity and offers a valuable "experience" to the conventional grocery. Not that the conventional grocery is bad. .... we need food availability and profitability in a multitude of variations. The Farmers Market, the CSA, Farm to School, the conventional grocery. Together we offer the full range of "experiences" demanded as well as maximum utilization ... which is huge. Good luck Mike.... i do know that produce from the first Gateway Farm is in your operation.
ruell

[Lacey Wyman-Eyberg]

Mike,hope the market is off to a running start. I'm a mom of three hungry kids, so the more places I can spend money on local goods the better. Would love to be able to buy all the food I feed my kids from farms here in the beautiful Ozarks.

[Ron Meek]

Hey , This is Ron from Red Oak Premium Meat Processors in Mountain View Missouri We have a variety of meat processing abilities here So if you know someone who would like to have thier livestock processed We are USDA inspected for custom and commercial processing

[Patricia P. Tursi]

This sounds great...Mike has been at this for a long time and the site is so convenient to St. Louis an Glenstone...Lots of potential.