Gray Village Farmers' Market Rules
Tabling
- Apply with the Gray Village Farmers Market for the 2024 Season.
- Location of the Market is the Village Green Food Forest Park at Gray Corner which is 5 Yarmouth Rd, Gray, Maine on GPS.
- 2023 Season is from June 23, 2024 through October 13, 2024.
- Time and Day is Sunday from 10 am to 1 pm. Vendors may stay longer if there are customers after 1pm.
- Set up begins at 9 am. Venders must be set up by 9:45am
- Members must Reside and Produce in Maine.
- Updated Licenses must be filed with the Market Manager.
- Maintain attractive and clean displays.
- Display easily visible prices for the products with you at the market. It must be clear to customers the specific products you are selling each market day and the prices for those products. Products you plan to have at a future market date should be clearly identified as not with you now but will be at a specific future date. Display a sign with your business/farm name and location.
- Arrive at the market by 9:30 to begin set up (earlier if your set-up is longer) to be ready at 10am when the market opens, participate in site set-up, breakdown, and clean up.
- Stay until the market closes at 1pm.
- Open rain or shine. At the discretion of the Market Manager, the market may close due to dangerous weather.
- Dogs on leashes and under control are allowed.
- Vendors may include items for sale on their table from another producer with that product clearly labeled with the producers name. Those items can include locally-grown produce or locally-made products from renewable natural materials
- In order to reduce conflict between members, and to avoid any disorientation of customers, each full season member will be assigned a space. Members are expected to respect this arrangement and set up in their allocated space. If a member is not in attendance for a market day, adjacent vendors may move into the space to fill in the hole and maintain the continuity of the market. If a member’s absence becomes routine, their space may be permanently reallocated so that continuity is maintained at the market. Part time or guests will be placed by the manager for continuity.
- Pay Annual Membership dues of $220, or $20 per week tabling fee payable to Gray Village Farmers Market LLC.
Produce and Plants
- All produce, fruit, flowers, and plants must be grown or wild gathered ethically in Maine by the Vendor. Buying product for resale at our Market is prohibited unless is it clearly marked.
- Post-harvest handling should consider sanitation, cleanliness, and high quality. Produce that appears rotten, spoiled, moldy, improperly sprayed, or otherwise unfit for human consumption may not be brought to the market and offered for sale.
- Growers who apply pesticides must follow the labeled directions as to the target pest, crop, application rate, and post application harvest withdrawal period. Non-certified organic vendors must maintain the same records as certified organic vendors (as determined by MOFGA, the certifying agent of the Dept. of Agriculture) and have these records available at the market.
- Plant growers and any vendor selling plants at the Market must have a copy of their Maine Nursery License visible at the point of sale.
- All vendors selling processed baked goods must have their processing facility in Maine, and be licensed by the Maine Department of Agriculture. Copies of all pertinent licenses must be on file with the Market, unless they are a resident of Gray. Then that food must be displayed in accordance with Gray Food Sovereignty Ordinance, Maine Food Sovereignty Act and Maine Agriculture Guidelines. Gray's Food Sovereignty rules ordinance apply to baked goods, and prepared foods as well.
- All dairy licenses must be updated and on file with the Market.
- Jams and acidulated foods major ingredients must be processed in Maine.
- All fruits, vegetables, and herbs must be grown or foraged.
- All baked goods must be made by scratch by the Vendor in Maine. All home-processed or baked products should use fresh product from the vendor or a local farmer in Maine. No commercially frozen, canned, or pre-mixed ingredients are allowed.
Meat
- Meats and eggs must be raised by the vendor in Maine.
- Meats and eggs must be packaged, transported, and displayed in accordance with Gray Food Sovereignty Ordinance, Maine Food Sovereignty Act and Maine Agriculture Guidelines.
- Seafood must be caught by a fisherman or lobster whose residence and license is in Maine.
- All seafood must be packaged, transported, and displayed in accordance with Maine Agriculture Guidelines.
Crafts
- Crafts are not allowed at a true Farmers Market. However, yarn, dried flowers, beeswax, hand sewn products, apothecary products and other intermediate products are permissible if made, raised or wild gathered by the vendor, ups. The Gray Village Farmers Market will decide on any “gray area” crafts on a case-by-case basis but should be encouraged to honor the spirit of a market primarily oriented toward locally-grown and processed foods.
- Members who sell produce, processed goods, or meats and seafood may also sell their crafts, but shall dedicate no more than 20% of their display space to crafts.