| MAY 29, 2011 -- Shoppers at Danbury Fair mall this summer will be able to pick up groceries on their way to and from the parking lot.
The Elite Farmer's Market will open at the mall June 1. The market will be set up in the front parking lot, near Macy's, and will operate from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays through Oct. 29.
According to co-founder Melanie Lee, the market will feature a range of organic food vendors, as well as a smaller selection of non-organic food.
"It'll have everything," she said, "a spectrum of goods."
Lee and her husband, Antony Lee, are the founders of Elite Farmer's Markets. The market set to open at the mall is their only market now, but Antony Lee said they hope to open markets at other shopping centers in the future.
In addition to meat, fish, produce and artisan foods, the market will feature live music on Saturdays, as well as canning, planting, and composting demonstrations and activities for children.
"It provides the ability for parents to relax," Melanie Lee said. "It's a wonderful opportunity to educate kids."
Children's activities will focus on teaching about produce and sustainable growth practices, Melanie Lee said.
The market will also feature a "greenius tent," where experts in sustainable growth and related fields will be on hand to answer consumers' questions.
"Experts will be around to answer questions about sustainable practices, anything to do with fresh food," Antony Lee said. There will also be books for sale on those topics, he said.
Antony Lee said the mall is an ideal location for a farmers market.
"When they build a mall like Danbury Fair, they locate it in the center of the population," he said. Maura Ruby, the mall's property manager, agreed.
"I think it certainly adds a quality amenity to the center, so we're excited about it," Ruby said. "We feel like it's going to produce a mix of quality vendors our customers will be excited to visit on a weekly basis."
Greta Rubinstin, 77, and Paula Dollard, 62, both of Danbury, said the market will be a welcome addition to the mall.
"It would be nice to do one-stop shopping," Rubinstin said.
"I wouldn't have to go to the grocery store on the way home," Dollard said.
She said she also looks forward to having easy access to organic food.
Antony Lee said, however, that while the market will buy entirely from small farms, not all of the produce will be locally grown.
" `Locally grown' is kind of an ambiguous term," he said. "Some farmers travel great distances to sell their produce to farmers markets all over the world."
The Elite Market joins the CityCenter Danbury Farmers' Market as Danbury's only existing farmers markets.
Andrea Gartner, the executive director of the CityCenter Market at Kennedy Park on Main Street, said she worries that competition from the Elite Market will take business away from the CityCenter Market, which she said features entirely locally grown produce.
"I'm very wary," Gartner said. "What we've created with our downtown market is a common health initiative supporting Connecticut agriculture."
The CityCenter Market will open July 8 and will operate on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Oct. 28.
Antony Lee said Elite Market will bring more business to the CityCenter Market rather than siphon customers away.
"It will raise awareness of Danbury as a center of farmer's products and bring more customers to all markets in the area," he said.
Said Gartner, "I can understand that opinion. I don't know if I accept it yet, though. We'll have to wait and see."
Gartner said she sees the CityCenter Market as more community-driven than the Elite Market.
"We're a grassroots effort working to serve our community, as opposed to someone who's working to launch a business model," Gartner said. She added that the CityCenter Market offers dollar-for-dollar matches for supermarket vouchers issued by the state.
Antony Lee said that to avoid competing directly with the CityCenter Market, the Elite Market will not run on Fridays. |
