Stonington Borough Connecticut

In July, the emphasis in my life shifts from growing at the farm to selling at the market.  Time in the garden becomes routine: weeding, watering, harvesting.  For the next two months, the most enjoyable part of my work will be selling at weekly markets.  My main sales outlet is the Saturday morning Farmers Market in Stonington Borough, an historic seaside village ten minutes by car from the farm.  The market occurs outside each weekend between mid-May and mid-October.  For the last several years, the same group of farmers have assembled an indoor market from mid-October to mid-May. 

Goeff Little, a Stonington Village Improvement Association board member, inaugurated the market in l998, then became the first Market Master.  The SVIA , founded in 1899, still sponsors the Farmers Market as one of its continuing efforts to promote the beauty and livability of the Borough of Stonington.  Goeff envisioned the market as a “needed service for the entire community and a support for family farms in the region.”  He secured the ideal location for the market: at the Town Dock. 

 The Town Dock is a five-acre open space on the edge of Stonignton Harbor.  It is a hub of activity for the local fishermen.  Three piers provide dock space for the last commercial fishing fleet in Connecticut.  Three types of boats tie up here while in port.  Lobster boats occupy the pier farthest to the south.  These 25 to 35-foot boats set pots in the eastern end of Long Island Sound.  Off-season, carefully coiled lines sit atop metal lobster pots stacked in long rows on the back edge of the dock.  During the summer, clusters of blue plastic bait-barrels hold “ripe” fish carcasses used as bait.

Larger boats take their places at two northern docks.  The “day boats,” 45 to 55 feet long, drag heavy fishnets along the ocean bottom between Block Island and Montauk Point.  As their names indicates, their two-man crews are home each night.  The largest, 75-foot “trip boats,” drag for fish or dredge for scallops far off shore and can be out of port for a week.  Boats with names like “Patti Jo” and “Jenna Lynn” range as far north as the Grand Bank off the coast of Newfoundland. 

Federal grants helped finance a large parking area adjacent to the docks. The Small Boast Association has its storage yard and launching beach here.  Two large lawn areas, each more than a half acre in size, complete the site.  Grass welcomes dog walker, kids playing ball, and on Saturday mornings, participants at the Farmers Market. Securing this location helped make the market a success for the start.  Everyone in the area knows the Town Dock, so it’s easy to explain the location of the market.  Visitors appreciate the generous parking area.  But most important, the farmers have a grassy area to display their wares.  This last is invaluable since veggies and flowers, not to mention vendors and visitors, all wilt on asphalt.