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In 1979, David Conrad, an agriculture specialist with the Maryland Cooperative Extension, approached Phil Miller with an idea. He suggested that Miller, a then-26-year-old farmer in Clinton, could sell more produce by bringing some of his wares to College Park each weekend.
"[Conrad said] take your stuff to the northern part of the county where there's no farms and it'll take off," Miller recounted.
"We didn't know what to expect," he said.
Thirty years later, the College Park Farmers Market has become a city tradition. It's still held Saturday mornings from May to November in the parking lot at the Herbert Wells Ice Rink.
"I bet we've been coming at least 25 years," Grace Mary Oates of University Park said while shopping for strawberries, asparagus and zucchini bread with her husband, Wally. "If we're in town, we're at the farmers market."
Today, the market has 11 vendors, just enough to show its growth without betraying its small-town feel. In addition to the usual produce and baked goods, vendors also sell flowers and pottery.
"We just thought we'd step out a little bit," said Miller, the only founding member remaining, who now oversees the market's operation. "But we don't want this to become like a flea market."
The market opened in July 1979 at a time when farmers were looking for new ways to reach customers.
Business was slow that initial year, but, with advertising and word of mouth, it began to grow.
"Each weekend that the market was open, you would see a doubling of the population that came in," Conrad said. "By the third weekend that they were there, the growers that came started running out of product."
By the end of the season, the market was a success. It has steadily gained customers since then by forging relationships with loyal, longtime shoppers and occasionally reeling in new ones.
"The produce is very good. We like the corn especially," said Cal Kelley, of College Park, who has been coming to the market regularly for "three or four" years.
Stephen Crane, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, first visited last year after seeing an advertisement on Route 1. He has since become a weekly customer, picking up items like strawberries, onions and sourdough bread for both friends and himself.
"It's more convenient for me to come here instead of a food store," said Crane. "The people working here are a lot more friendly … There's also some great deals."
Miller said business usually picks up in June, bringing a steady stream of customers to the market throughout its 7 a.m. to noon hours.
"We start early and we finish early. We haven't changed that at all in 30 years," said Miller. "That's a good thing because I'm dead tired at 12 noon."
E-mail David Hill at dhill@gazette.net.
