Friday, March 9, 2018

New Farmers' Market Comes to Sattler, Texas


A new farmers’ and artisans’ market has opened in Sattler, Texas, and gives locals the opportunity to both buy and sell foodstuffs, arts and crafts, and other things produced in our area. 

Sattler Farmer’s Market is the brainchild of Jessica Japhet, whose family moved from San Antonio to Comal County when she was in middle school in the late ’90s and who has run her own home-based Toots’ Sweets Bakery since September 2015 (shown at right in front of VFW Post 8573 in Sattler, where the Sattler Farmer's Market sets up). She has acquired some experience with farmers’ markets over the years, including the one in San Marcos, which she has exhibited at, and a number of others in the area where her parents have sold their kettle corn.

“My goal for is just to make something really nice for the community to have,” Japhet said. “We don’t have anything like this out here and it will give people a nice place to come and hang out on the weekends and educate people about our area and its agriculture and arts. Having small businesses and locals selling is also going to help our economic growth. A lot of older people live out here, too, and it will be easier for them to come here than to New Braunfels or San Marcos. I have a really good feeling about this.”

Japhet is organizing the Sattler Farmer’s Market with the cooperation of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8573 at 14625 River Road, and on Saturdays it will be located in the open area between it and the Comal County Justice of the Peace facility (and, she said, people are welcome to use the parking lots for either location). On Sundays, which Japhet said she expects to be busier than Saturdays for the market, vendors will also be set up along the River Road side of the VFW hall and people will be able to park in the lot for Real Pit BBQ, which is closed that day. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both days and, Japhet said, every weekend for the rest of the year.

“We’ve got a great turnout so far and I’ve been reaching out to more farmers to let them know that we’re here,” Japhet said. She added that she has thus far accepted 18 applications from vendors and that they will all be present at the market this weekend, some on either Saturday or Sunday and some on both days. She also said that just this week she contacted 60 area farmers and has been following up with and hearing back from them.

“Right now we have people doing jerkies, jams, jellies, salsas, and farm-fresh eggs,” Japhet said, and she will also be selling her own baked goods at the market. “It’s open for handmade goods and local artists.” There are other local events where local artists have the opportunity to sell their work, she said, but many of them are open to only a limited number of vendors or are held just once a year.

Japhet said she believes the Sattler Farmer’s Market will grow steadily as the weather improves, especially after the tourism season begins, and is planning turning it into a bit of a fair the weekend after Easter, May 7-8, which she is referring to as a “Spring Fling.”

“We may have a BBQ, I’m thinking the fire department or police might want to come out and do a meet-and-greet, maybe have a bounce house,” she said. “Kind of make it a whole family thing for people who want to hang out and give them something to enjoy on top of purchasing things.”

For more information or a vendor application, go to bit.ly/SattlerTXFM. Sattler Farmer’s Market also has pages on Facebook and TwitterA 10-by-10 vendor space at the market costs $15 a day and people can choose to sell their goods on either one or both days. 

Donya and Peter Kokocha of Papakoko's Woodworks were among those who exhibited at the Sattler Farmer's Market on Sunday, March 4. To their right is Jessica Japhet's own Toots' Sweets Bakery stand and, at the far right, the Bow Hunters Jerky stand.