Today’s first Kalispell Farmer’s Market had a beautiful opening day. Obviously, it is a bit early for produce in Montana, but the vendors who WILL have produce eventually, mostly had starter plants for home gardeners. The craft vendors were there as well as the cheese folks from Polson and other food vendors. The sun was shining, the temperature at 9:00 a.m. was 51F and everyone was smiling and greeting one another.

I bought the above jellies. The folks with this booth do a great job of display and also offer tastes of everything. One of the things I enjoy most about the market is talking with the vendors. I didn’t hear the whole story here, but I know I’ll be back for more…good stuff!

That yellow and red area on the near corner is home to Shelly’s Jelly’s (www.shellysjellys.com). Shelley and Al have done a great job of putting together their selling venue and website. So much fun!

My other find was fuschia hanging baskets. I was thrilled to find the fuschia. On my mostly shaded front porch, fuschia do very well, but they are hard to find. In fact, I have NOT been able to find them for 14 years!! The women who have the greenhouse that grew these fuschia said that they started growing them because one of their father’s also had a spot that only fuschia could handle. And like me, he also loved them. They had 3 baskets and I bought all 3 … for less than 1 basket at a regular nursery. Obviously overhead costs are less for the market, but I was so very happy to find these beautiful baskets!

The green top “tent” is home to the growers I bought the fuschia from. They were fun to talk with also. I asked if they took credit cards as I had only enough cash to buy the baskets which would leave me nothing for anything else. Many of the vendors do take credit cards via the little swipe things that go on smart phones and thankfully, they were set up for that. Both women were laughing at me conserving my cash as they do the same and said that their challenge was not spending everything they made at other vendors at the market.

The market happens in 2 parking lots on the campus of Flathead Valley Community College. It is quite a pretty campus with lots of green space and attractive buildings. The College provides access to rest rooms as well as Wi-Fi for the vendors. Parking for buyers is ample and close. I think it is an impressive market and it is only one of 5 in the vicinity: Whitefish, Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Polson and this one in Kalispell. Additionally, the markets all run on different days, so vendors are able to participate in all of the markets, if they choose.

One of my baskets hanging…they are still smallish, but hopefully, they will do well on my front porch.

A beautiful day and a fun first market!