Montezuma County's Administrative Building parking lot has been the Cortez Farmers Market home for 53 years. But when market officials sought to renew their agreement to use the county venue for the 2025 season, the commissioners balked. That's when the market moved to its new location. By Deborah Uroda. This story is sponsored by Hospice of Montezuma and Lor Foundation.
Cortez Farmers Market - https://www.cortezfarmersmarket.com/
LOR Foundation - https://lorfoundation.org/
Hospice of Montezuma - https://hospiceofmontezuma.org/
The Cortez Farmer's Market opened for the summer season at a new location with new programs and a new attitude after negotiations over who could sell in the market. Withered on the vine. You're watching the Montezuma Local News, brought to you by Hospice of Montezuma and the Lore Foundation. I'm Connor Shrieve. The Cortez Farmer's Market opened for the 2025 summer season at the Children's Kiva Montessori School parking lot. June 7th, the market was forced to leave its home at the Montezuma County Administration building parking lot on Main Street. After the county, commissioners banned non-food vendors for the first time in the market's. 53 year history there. Market manager Julie Perman, said the commissioners never provided an explanation for its vendor ban and the commissioners did not respond to an email request for comment by our deadline. Nevertheless, Perman says the market's transplant to the Montessori school has turned out to be quite fruitful.
Since we are a a loosely organized group of people, we decided not to leave any vendors behind and find a new location. So we went and searched, and the Kiva Charter School was more than happy to invite us in. Right now, we're testing it out. I'm pretty sure we're going to stay here because it's really just a nice setup here.
Produce at the market is a bit sparse this early in the season, but you can still buy greenhouse, tomatoes, lettuce, root vegetables, and flowers. Non-food vendors include variety of homemade goods and services from soaps and sourdough breads to knife sharpening and face painting.
You can come in. We do have some produce here. We do actually have some brand new vendors as far as meat. We have lamb, we have bison, and we actually have yak meat here. Yes, so it's fantastic. We've added those people in. I actually had to scholarship for them. So they're trying the market out, trying to get their feet underneath them.
Perman says the market offers several grant funded programs to supplement child and senior nutrition programs, and loyal customers can earn market dollars when they purchase goods from at least five vendors.
All right, so we have this vendor value card. What happens is you come five different times and see 5 55 different vendors, and then you get a $5 market book. So it's a really good deal that way you can try, try stuff out. You know,
The family and dog friendly market also offers food for sale, music, and an opportunity to visit with friends. But please keep your dog on a leash and your children somewhat under control.
We're very community oriented, but the way this market has survived for 53 years is if I get the community out here to support us. And that's what we really want to do is support these farmers. Because you get to know your farmer. You get to know how they grow, how they grow your food, and that's very important nowadays.
The market also has new hours this year it's open every Saturday from 8:00 AM to noon in the Kiva Montessori school parking lot at the corner of Mildred and Empire. You can visit the Farmer's Market website for more information or log onto our website at Montezuma Local News. Thanks for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I'm Connor Shreve.
