Farmers’ tents and umbrellas line all four sides of the large grassy square. On two corners different crafts people sets up shop each weekend. Craft items on offer range from hand made soaps and carved wooden bowls to an interesting collections of recycled and repurposed items. A picnic table anchors the center of this rectangle. Here SVIA Board members serve coffee and sell T-shirts and tote-bags bearing our market logo.
As market start-time approaches, buyers arrive to preview the day’s offerings. A line quickly forms in front of Bobby Guzzo’s tent. Someone spots the Stonington Reds (our local nickname for deep-ocean red shrimp) and passes the word along. Across the way, there is a vacant space in the line of purveyors. Beltane Farms has yet to arrive. Customers mill about like nervous chickens waiting for supper. Then, a dark blue van lurches over the curb, and people sort themselves into a proper queue, lined up to buy pillows of chalk white goat cheese rolled in cracked pepper or fresh dill.
The market starts promptly at 9am. Market rules prohibit sales before that time. But how to determine exactly when 9am occurs.? Should we wait for the clock-tower bell to ring at United Church on Main Street? But that’s difficult to hear on windy or rainy days. Or should we use our own personal watches to establish the hour? SVIA has solved the problem by introducing a ship’s bell. It is never officially 9am until a child rings that large brass bell.
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