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Defying the conventional wisdom that Utahns spend their Sunday mornings sleeping in or going to church, two Salt Lake Valley farmers markets launched their summer seasons to appreciative Sunday crowds.
The new Wasatch Front Farmers Market kicked off Sunday morning at Wheeler Farm in Murray, while the Salt Lake City People's Market began its sixth year at the International Peace Gardens at Jordan Park on Salt Lake City's west side.
Organizers and vendors at both see their events as quiet alternatives to the more bustling Downtown Farmers Market, which started its summer season on Saturday at Pioneer Park.
"For the first day, it's a rather quick kickoff" for the Wasatch Front Farmers Market, said Neils Wright, who works with his wife, Joyce, running Fuzypets Farms, a Eureka-based maker of goat-milk soaps and natural-fiber products. Wright said the Wheeler Farm site "has got a lot of potential, just because of its location."
"I'm really digging this setup," said Happy Monkey Hummus co-owner Erin Atwater, of the Wasatch Front Farmers Market. "This is more of an intimate atmosphere [than Pioneer Park]."
Atwater's boyfriend-business partner David McFate said the hummus company has been selling at the Downtown Farmers Market for three years, and looked at the Wheeler Farm event as a way to reach "a whole different clientele" in the suburbs.
"We're just spreading the Monkey love down the valley," Atwater said.
Maryann Alston, who founded the Wasatch Farmers Market, counted 65 vendors — from growers to craftspeople — at Wheeler Farm on Sunday. She expects more as the summer crops come in, and has room on the Wheeler lawn to expand.
Doug Williams, president of the Salt Lake City People's Market, said Friday that the new rivals down in Murray were drawing a few vendors away from Jordan Park. But, on Sunday, portrait photographer and market board member Melanie Schertz didn't see a dent in attendance.
The People's Market still had plenty of vendor applications, Schertz said, and the market board strives to keep the event from growing too large — like the Downtown Farmers Market. "Here, people can talk to the vendors" without the crowds at Pioneer Park, Schertz said.
"Pioneer Park's a little too big for me," said Kevin Nash, who runs Salt Lake City's Earth First Eco Farms. Nash was selling lettuce, spinach and herbs at the People's Market, and will sell cucumbers, squash, okra and other veggies as they come in later in the season.
Both markets promise more than just produce vendors and craft booths. The markets have events scheduled through the summer season.
The Wasatch Front market serves up free music, as well as $5-a-plate breakfast — sausage, pancakes and scrambled eggs — cooked on-site with locally produced goods.
The People's Market launched the season Sunday with its annual yard sale, in which nearby residents spread out clothes, toys and other knick-knacks for purchase. The People's Market also has live music, and will have kids crafts on the third Sunday of every month (the first, next weekend, will be on Father's Day), as well as a health and welfare day, a book day and a pet day.
Sunday farmers markets
Two Salt Lake County farmers markets run on Sundays through the summer:
Salt Lake City People's Market • Now through Oct. 23, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at International Peace Gardens at Jordan Park, 1060 S. 900 West, Salt Lake City; slcpeoplesmarket.org
Wasatch Front Farmers Market • Now through Sept. 25, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Wheeler Farm, 6351 S. 900 East, Murray; wasatchfrontfarmersmarket.org