2015-05-20 - Farmer's Market Committee - Minutes Farmers Market Meeting 5/20//15
In attendance: Paulette Greenberg Chuck Posniak Andy Stein
Larry King Ed Muldoon Jeff Berman
Lea Pinshower Fern Russell
Peggy Starczowski Mickey Katz
Not in attendance: Tess Baker
Meeting called to order at 7.00 pm.
1) Paulette: Paulette introduced Callie from Callie's Cup Cakery attended with her
partner and brought cupcake samples for committee to try. Callie said she plans to charge
$3 per cupcake but will offer a special of six cupcakes for the price of 5; she is also
hoping to offer a punch card that patrons can use to work towards free cupcakes. Callie is
planning to offer four flavors a week and rotate depending on which flavors sell the best.
Callie said her cupcakes are gluten and allergen free. She will keep the cupcakes in a
cooler with ice packs. The cupcakes will be packaged in a container for purchase.
Committee members agreed the cupcakes were quite good.
Paulette introduced Jeff Berman and Andy Stein as our new liaisons.
Link/SNAP program: A "swiper" for the LINK cards will be provided free for the first
year and can be used with an IPAD. A log must be kept recording the card number, date
and amount of bucks given. We will utilize"link bucks" in $1 and$5 amounts, and the
bucks will be embossed for security. The patron will use bucks at the vendors, then
vendors will turn bucks into us for reimbursement. We will staple the log and the bucks
together and turn into village. The bucks can be used for any food product; they cannot
be used for dog food or treats. All petty cash will be locked up-cash and bucks will be
picked up on Friday then turned back in on Monday. Paulette said we are able to apply
for grant of up to $2500 to help defray costs for years 2 and 3. Paulette and Fern will
work on grant request of$1500.
Publicity: Paulette said our market was advertised in the Chicago Tribune. The market
was also advertised in the Daily Herald with our logo and will appear three more times in
the Herald. The SNAP program was mentioned in the ad as well.
2) Returning/New vendors: Chuck said we are up to 32 vendors. Klug has indicated
they will be back but we are still waiting for the application. Paulette said"Magic
Crepes" submitted an application but we already have our Pasta vendor planning to make
crepes. We agreed Magic Crepes could be a back up if needed.
Peggy spoke with Apple Holler and they plan to sell sauces as well as bread. Apple
Holler has not yet decided on whether they will make sandwiches. We won't allow them
to sell BBQ sauces as we already have vendor doing this. Peggy made it clear that they
could not sell donuts and told them of our concerns regarding their attendance last year.
Apple Holler assured her they have made changes and this would not be a problem. The
committee agreed we would give Apple Holler a second chance.
A new vendor has expressed interest, Culina Artis (sp?); they make frozen meals. This
vendor would not be at the market the first two weeks. Peggy said she could not access
their website so we are unsure specifics of frozen meals offered. Committee agreed to
give them a chance.
Another new vendor is "Voishali Acharya"who will be offering Sunflower oils and
Camelina oil. Committee agreed on offering this vendor a chance.
3) Non-profits: Larry said he had no updates. There are still some weekends open for
non-profits. The Garden Club will be at market once a month, the Lions Club will be
there once a month, and Andy offered to reach out to the Girl and Boy Scouts.
4) Promotions: Peggy said Siemens will be donating bookmarks with flower seed
packets, but the bookmarks need to include an"educational"message. The committee
agreed that bookmarks should have our logo and we liked the idea of adding an image of
the food pyramid.
Ed said we have 500 American flags, which we can attach to tent poles, all at the same
height. We will also pass the flags out to patrons.
Ed said he would feature Callie's Cupcakes on our Facebook page. The Farmers Market
was already featured in the Village Newsletter.
Ed said we have four tables we will use at market. The tables can be adjustable in height.
5) Entertainment: Fern said Archie McFee would be coming to market. Committee
expressed concern about food erasers being distributed to patrons due to possible choking
hazard to children. Jack the Magician will be at the market's opening day. The clown
ladies plan to be at the market almost every week.
Fern requested that we use market Facebook page to recruit entertainers; committee
agreed this was a good idea. Fern will reach out to the Buffalo Grove Singers as well.
6) Misc.: Larry and Lea proposed that we come up with a schedule of two teams that
would commit to set up and take down for alternating weeks. This would allow a break
for those who had to be on site at 6 AM for chalking and set up every week. Larry
proposed one team as Lea, Larry and Ed, and second team of Paulette and Mickey. Chuck
would continue to supervise and direct. Larry and Lea agreed to come up with a
"proposed" schedule for consideration.
See you all on Opening Day June 14!
The meeting adjourned 8:11 PM.