MERIDIAN, Idaho — Soon, Meridian City Hall Plaza and parts of Broadway will be filled with farmer's market booths, music and sunshine. Local vendors have the opportunity to get their name out and earn some loyal customers.
- The Meridian Main Street Market begins April 13th and runs Saturdays, 9 am-1 pm. Check their Facebook page for any updates to days and times.
- New this year, is the South Meridian Market at Pinnacle. Follow their Facebook page for more.
- Event coordinators will take vendor applications until the last market day in October.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
With warmer weather around the corner, farmer’s markets will soon be lining the streets.
“If you can make it, bake it, create it, grow it… we have that vendor probably,” said CheRee Eveland the manager for Meridian Main Street Market.
And Meridian Main Street Market welcomes the community to city hall and Broadway to shop local.
Katie Wheeler moved to Idaho from England in 2016. She’s been selling British baked goods at Saturday markets for years.
“Fortunately I now have lots of regular customers, which is fantastic. That’s what a lot of my business is, people coming on a Saturday morning to get their British pastries that they just can’t live without,” said Katie Wheeler, owner of Cragside Downs British Baked Goods.
The England native bakes for hours prepping for loyal- and new- customers… with her one-of-a-kind recipes.
“I sell, which is really popular, the British shortbread, it’s a really old recipe, a good few hundred years old, and I don’t give my recipes away. So people have to come buy more if they like it, and scones as well.” said Wheeler.
The market offers opportunities to a variety of vendors.
“A day at the market I’m usually the first one here to get my barbeque and the fire started and everything set up,” said Daniel Sotos, owner of Coastal Oak BBQ Catering.
Last year was the first time Coastal Oak BBQ hit Main St. Now owner and chef Daniel Sotos is looking forward to serving more of his popular items this market season, “our Tri Tip and our garlic butter bread, people seem to love it."
He has a dream of using his barbecuing business to fund funerals for those families that can’t afford one.
“Line up on Main St or on Broadway and raise up enough money, $10,000 a day for people that lost a family member. That’s one of my goals - to do that, out here, for our community,” said Sotos.
What sets Meridian Main Street Market apart is their opportunity for youth and teens to get involved.
“So we’ve had a couple youth vendors that have paid for cars, or tuition for college because they’ve been here through the seasons and made money selling their candles or their baked goods. We’ve had really good success. Each year we grow bigger and bigger,” said Eveland.
If you can’t make it down to main street on a Saturday the South Meridian Market at Pinnacle will be every second Wednesday of the month starting April 10th through October.
“We’ll have some of the vendors that are going to be here over there, we’ll have music and food trucks, same thing that we have here. That’s out at Lake Hazel and Locutus Grove,” said Eveland.
