Market Policies
PRODUCTS: All products must be handmade, homemade, or home grown.
HOURS/SET-UP AND TEARDOWN: Our market takes place from 8am-noon at 501 S. Florissant Rd. (Plaza at 501. Corner of S. Florissant Rd and Suburban Ave.) The market season goes from the first Saturday in May through the last Saturday in October. We are open rain or shine. Fees will be collected rain or shine. We provide a 10’x10’ tent that our volunteers put up by 6:30am. You can arrive anytime after 6:30am as long as you are set up by shortly before 8am. PLEASE BE SET UP ON TIME. All vendors are expected to stay until noon. Please don’t start breaking down before then. Note: volunteers may take a few things down before noon but vendors need to wait until noon to break down.
CARTS: We have carts to help with your loading and unloading if you need them. They are usually under the pavilion. There are large carts and smaller carts/hand dollies. Please use carts rather red wagons. All carts must be returning under the pavilion during the market. Vendors cannot keep carts at their booth during the market. You are welcome to get one at the end of the market to help with loading.
VENDOR BOOTHS: There are no guaranteed spots. Placement may change from one market to the next. Priority is given to booths that are pre-paid for the season before the season starts, farmers (produce, meat, eggs, dairy, etc.), and certain food booths that require electricity to run their equipment. If you are not there by 7:45am, your booth will be open to other vendors and no guarantee you will have a spot that day.
ARTISANS AND CRAFTERS: Products must be handmade, creative, of good quality, and must be approved by our jury before being accepted to our market. This includes past, present, and new vendors. You must include a link (Facebook, Instagram, Etsy, website, etc.) to your products. If you don’t have your products online, please note that on the application.You will be contacted later to submit.
TABLES AND CHAIRS: Tables are chairs are first come, first serve and are usually reserved for special events, activities, and community groups. We ask that vendors bring their own tables and chairs but if you are unable to provide your own, please let me know. New this year: Vendors will need to retrieve and set up any tables borrowed from the market.
FOOD VENDORS: You must have proper permits from St. Louis County Health. You must send a copy of your permit to the manager before coming to the market. Find them here: https://stlouiscountymo.gov/st-louis-county-departments/public-health/food-and-restaurants/farmers-markets/
PARKING: NEW Vendors can pull into the paved parking lot behind the pavilion to unload. Enter from Suburban Ave. After you are unloaded, please park your car in the very back of the back lot or across the street behind loft apartments/shops.
BOOTH FEES/DEPOSITS: A deposit of $75 is required before coming to our market. It will be applied to your last three markets OR if you cancel after 5pm the Friday night before a market you are attending OR are a no-show Sat. morning. ($25 for each late cancelation or no-show.) If you plan to come to LESS than three markets, you MUST pay for those markets in advance. All booth fees that have not been pre-paid will be collected each market between 11am-11:30am. CHECKS SHOULD BE MADE OUT TO: LIVE WELL EVENTS.
CONFIRMATION: A confirmation email is sent out each week (usually Tuesday) through the entire season asking for ALL vendors to confirm. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU DO THAT and/or let me know if anything has changed. If you haven’t heard from me by Thursday before a market, please contact me! Occasionally I make mistakes and miss someone. : )
LAYOUT: I will send out a layout at the end of each week so you can see where you are located. Layouts sometimes change slightly by Saturday morning depending on last minute circumstances.
FERGUSON FARMERS MARKET $10 BUCKS TOKENS: ALL VENDORS at our market can take these tokens. If a vendor does not take credit cards, customers can buy market tokens with their credit/debit cards at the information booth to use in the market. These tokens work just like a $10 bill. Customers can use them at ANY booth like cash. Vendors can give change if needed. Market bucks tokens have a new look this year. They are a green and white poker chip with “Ferguson Farmers Market” printed on it.
SNAP/EBT TOKENS: We are authorized to sell SNAP/EBT tokens at our market. EBT customers can buy them at the Info Booth. They can also get DOUBLE-UP tokens – one for each SNAP token up to 25. SNAP tokens can only be used to purchase produce, honey, canned goods like jelly or salsa, bread, cheese, eggs, packaged coffee or tea, meats, poultry, nuts, and seeds and plants for food. DOUBLE-UP tokens can only be used for produce, and seeds and plants for food. SNAP tokens are wooden. Double-Up tokens are aqua-colored. Silver Double-Up tokens CANNOT be taken. They are obsolete. Please ask me for more detailed information if you have any questions about what tokens you can take.
ALL TOKENS: All tokens should be brought to the Information Booth at the end of each market and we will reimburse you. I usually try to make an announcement to remind vendors to bring them up.
CHANGE: The market does not have change for vendors or customers. Please make sure you come prepared with enough change. Please also be careful accepting $100 bills or don’t accept them at all. We have had fake ones passed in previous years.
THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING THE POLICIES OF OUR MARKET!