ANNA MARIA – Pending city commission approval, the hurricane-displaced, city-hosted farmers market at City Pier Park will be temporarily replaced by an expanded farmers market at The Center of Anna Maria Island.
A promotional flyer provided last week by The Center’s volunteer market coordinator, Devinne “Dev” Whittaker, lists a Tuesday, Jan. 14 start date for the Anna Maria Community Farmers Market scheduled on The Center soccer fields from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The proposed weekly market requires a city commission-approved special event permit and The Center’s permit application is included on the agenda for the commission’s Thursday, Jan. 9 meeting. If approved by city commissioners, The Center will host the Anna Maria Community Farmers Market every Tuesday through May 27.
Located at 407 Magnolia Ave., The Center operates on city-owned property. When contacted by The Sun, Mayor Mark Short said the city is not involved with The Center-hosted market other than considering The Center’s special event permit application.
MARKET DISPLACED
After debuting with four vendors on a stormy day in March 2018, the city-hosted farmers market at City Pier Park became an annual seasonal tradition that began in October every Tuesday, weather permitting, until early to mid-May; and the vendor roster grew to a dozen or more vendors, most of whom returned each year.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton prevented the city-hosted farmers market from resuming in October. After Hurricane Helene struck in late September, City Pier Park was used as a staging area for utility crews and other recovery personnel.
In late October, the U.S. Post Office established a temporary post office under the City Pier Park shade sail structure, where postal workers provided basic mail services out of parked mail trucks. In late November, the temporary post office moved into a large, mobile home-like trailer that remains parked next to the shade sail structure, where it will remain until the hurricane-damaged post office building across the street is repaired and reopened, preventing the market from staging in its former space.
MARKET REIMAGINED
Whittaker and former Chiles Group head baker Ted Louloudes co-own the DBTB Juice Bar & Bakery they operate inside The Center. Whittaker recently proposed relocating the city-hosted farmers market to The Center rather than cancel it for the season. She also offered to help organize and coordinate The Center-hosted farmers market.
Whittaker sold protein shakes and other natural and nutritional beverages at her Dev’s Bevs vending tent during the city market’s 2023-24 season; and Louloudes and his co-workers sold freshly baked bread and other baked goods at Chiles Hospitality group’s Anna Maria Bake House city market vending tent.
In recent years, Deputy City Clerk Fran Berrios coordinated the city-hosted farmers market originally coordinated and managed by previous Deputy City Clerk Debbie Haynes. With some initial assistance from Berrios, Whittaker reached out to the vendors who participated in last year’s city-hosted market. She also reached out to other vendors she knows from other markets she’s participated in. Whittaker said the city is limiting The Center’s market to 30 vendors and all 30 vendor slots have already been filled.
Featuring a dozen or more vendors, the city-hosted market focused primarily on fresh produce, other natural and organic food and beverage items, flowers, plants, herbs and things of that ilk. In an effort to not compete with the local restaurants and retail businesses along Pine Avenue, the city-hosted markets have not featured prepared meals and have not been open to arts and craft vendors or retail vendors whose offerings more resemble those sold at a flea market.
If approved, the Center-hosted Anna Maria Community Farmers Market will offer a wider array of vendors and vendor offerings. According to the promotional flyer, the market offerings will include art, produce, coffee, juice, baked goods, meat, poultry, massages, clothing, pickles, micro-greens, beverages and more.
“We have opened this market up to all vendors, not just food and beverage,” Whittaker said.
According to Whittaker, The Center vendors are not being asked to pay a weekly or annual participation fee, but they are required to have liability insurance that protects The Center and the city-owned property.
