Season under way, with changes

PENDLETON — Danielle Martin took her time shopping for vegetable plants Saturday morning at Pendleton Farmers Market in Falls Park.
With the help of Brent Flatt at the Remedy Farm booth, she left with three tomato plants and some basil.
“It’s for my boyfriend’s garden,” she said. “It’s his effort. I’m doing the buying, he’ll do the (garden) work, and I’ll be the cook.”
The market, in the third week of its 2021 season, is in a good spot this year — both in terms of location and the number of vendors, said Amber Kiger, a vendor who is also on the five-member committee that helps run the weekly event.

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The market moved this year from the parking lot off Falls Park Drive to a section of the road — stretching from the park’s main entrance on Pendleton Avenue to Pendleton Historical Museum — closed to vehicle traffic during the market, which runs 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays.
The market, established in 1994, also is in a good spot in terms of vendor participation, she said. The list has  been growing, Kiger said, and totals 49 as of last week.
Vendors sell a wide range of items, from the handmade soaps Kiger sells at her Kiger’s Artisan Soapery booth, to the jams and wooden boxes that Ashley and Christopher White sell at their booth, Sawdust and Sugar.
Other booths sell various specialty food items, such as nuts and coffee, or unique clothing and jewelry items.
Ana Blake, a member of Pendleton/Fall Creek Township Parks and Recreation Board who heads up the market committee with Karyn Ledbetter, a member of Friends of Falls Park, said this year represents a shift for the market.
She said the park board decided last year to see if it could improve the market by setting up a committee and getting the Friends involved, instead of it being run by a single person.
So far so good, Blake said, noting that instead of waning vendor participation, they’ve added new ones; they’ve also added live music and food services, which also is set to expand as additional food trucks are planning to come soon.
“It’s been nice to have a group of people to share responsibilities,” she said, explaining that she, Ledbetter and three vendor committee members divvy up the duties.
“I think it’s going really well,” Blake said. “It’s my understanding that this is the biggest market Pendleton has ever had. I think this is the direction we wanted the market to go in.”
She also attributes the pandemic — more specifically, people’s desire to get outside and do something fun — as “another reason we’ve been so successful this year.”
Blake’s assessment seems to be supported by Saturday’s visitors.
Darcy Harrington, Danielle Martin’s mother, said she’s enjoyed the market every week since it opened earlier this month. While empty-handed mid-morning on Saturday, May 22, the prior week she bought fresh rhubarb for dessert dishes, including a cobbler.
“It just seems like there are more vendors and more variety this year,” she said.
Dawn Sellers, who lives in Edgewood but was with family from Pendleton, gave the market high marks.
“This is the first time I’ve been in a while — it’s been a good one,” Sellers said, shortly after purchasing a jar of triple berry jam.
“It’s been so good we haven’t made it very far (through the booths) yet.”
The market is set to run from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays through Oct. 9.
Blake said other new market developments to watch for in coming weeks include Kid Entrepreneur Day, set for the first Saturday of the month, where children will be able to set up shop in miniature booths.
And on June 26 and July 24, School of Rock — a music lessons business with locations in Carmel, Fishers and elsewhere — will have student performances.