LYME — It was looking as though Lyme Farmers Market, which has for more than 15 years been a perennially popular destination for both local and regional shoppers, was going to be absent from the landscape this year.
In an exciting turn of events, Jennifer Tiffany and her husband Bill Hurtle have reincarnated the market with a new name and location, and will open for business on June 15. Tiffany explained in an exclusive interview with LymeLine.com that Bill has fostered the idea of running a farmers market for many years. He hails from Long Island and was used to seeing the numerous farm stands at the side of the road there and longed to do something similar in Lyme.
But there was no inclination to follow through with the plan in any major sense while Lyme Farmers Market was still bustling just up the road on Ashlawn Farm in Lyme.
Their first iteration of Bill’s dream happened last summer when Tiffany started hanging buckets of flowers on the feed bunk by the ‘Ladies in Waiting’ sign at the corner of Sterling City Rd. and Hamburg Rd., where the Holstein cows known as the “Ladies of Lyme” used to congregate. But someone said they thought it was a memorial for the cows, which are no longer kept at the farm.
As a result, Tiffany says, they “dragged out“ Tiffany Farm’s old silage cart and placed it on the same corner and Tiffany’s daughter, Lisa Simiola, fashioned a nameplate out of wood calling it “From the Farm.” Tiffany and Hurtle then added farm produce to the flower selection on the stand, all of which was successfully sold on the honor system.
However, when Tiffany read online that Lyme Farmers Market would not be opening this year, she and Bill saw an opportunity. Jen is passionate about the current plight of farmers — “they’re a dying breed,” she notes sadly — and wants people to understand that her and Bill’s overarching intent in starting the new farmers market is to help and support farmers.
Tiffany stresses that this venture is absolutely not a money-making one on their part — they both have full-time jobs so it’s “not their bread and butter,” she explains. Rather, she sees it a way not only to support farmers, but also to bring life and beauty back to the iconic farm and regenerate the sense of community vibrancy previously associated with Lyme Farmers Market. Any income from the market will be plowed back into the operation to help fund the overheads.
Opening Day for ‘The Farmers Market at Tiffany Farms’ is Saturday, June 15, and the market will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Tiffany stresses, “All Department of Agriculture, Markets, Department of Health and CT Grown guidelines will apply.” She is “envisaging the same look as [Lyme Farmers Market at] Ashlawn,” which means there will be neither entertainment nor what she describes as “flea-market-type stuff.” The aim is a “very classy ” market in Tiffany’s words, focused on Connecticut-grown or-produced items such as dairy, beef, vegetables, herbs, jellies and syrups.
The field generously made available for the market by Susan B. Tiffany — the current owner of Tiffany Farms — is a “secluded area where my grandfather kept draft ponies,” notes Tiffany, adding the layout of the market will involve keeping cars and vendors separate. She and Hurtle are hoping to have a minimum of 10 vendors and says they will be “elated” if the number reaches 20.
The list of vendors who have already signed up for Opening Day includes:
- Four Mile River Farm
- Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm
- Upper Pond Farm (also representing Ashlawn Farm)
- Sweet Pea Cheese and House of Hayes
- T.A.L.K. Seafood
- Fat Stone Farm
- Dondero Orchards
- Deep River Farm
- Wave Hill Breads
- Beaver Brook Bakery
- From the Farm
Vendors are still welcome to apply for a spot at “The Farmers Market at Tiffany Farms.” Vendor applications are available by calling Jennifer Tiffany at 860-434-6239 or 860-575-4730 or emailing [email protected]
Editor’s Note: The Farmer’s Market enjoyed a wonderful Opening Day June 15 with more than 500 people visiting the market. Congratulations to Jen and Bill on such a successful and well-deserved start to their new enterprise. We heartily commend them for having the courage to take on this venture, the total belief in its mission, and the passion to make it happen.
Good luck Jen and Bill I know you will bring great farm products to the Lyme’s area.