Doors open for vendors at 3:30pm. Please enforce the “4pm rule.” Please ask any early arriving shoppers to wait until 4pm to begin making purchases in order to be fair to everyone in the community who expects the market to open at 4pm.
Shoppers have complained when vendors have sold out before or at 4pm because they didn’t arrive before the advertised operating hours of the market. Vendors who arrive at or close to 4pm have complained when they’ve missed potential shoppers who have already come and gone before the advertised 4pm market opening time. Your cooperation is needed to ensure the success and growth of the Vesper market event.
Please begin taking down your booths by or even before 6pm so you can be completely taken down and your vehicle loaded, with time to sanitize/clean your table and sweep up around it prior to 6:30pm. Please refrain from setting up complicated displays or inventory that takes more than 30 minutes to set up or take down.
For the farmers market each month immediately prior to bingo, which occurs the first Saturday of each month, vendors and the last remaining visitors in the facility should try to put the tables/chairs they’ve used back into the regular bingo table and chair arrangement. (carry please do not drag the tables/chairs) Please be kind and courteous to the community center volunteer (who may also be a vendor) who has to arrive first and be the last person to leave the facility. If you’d like to volunteer to be the first person in/last person out (and if you are prepared to follow the above rules) please offer to volunteer !
Vendors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with Kansas Department of Agriculture regulations. The KSTATE research and extension office has compiled a detailed list of foods and preparations that do not require any special licenses and those that do.
The publication can be found here: https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3138.pdf
Some excerpts from the above KSTATE extension publication: This information is SUBJECT TO CHANGE and this is provided as information only so it’s best to download and read the publication or contact your KSTATE extension office for suggestions.
Ungraded eggs may be sold by small producers (51 to 250 hens) if maintained at 45°F or less. Very small producers (1-50 hens) do not have to maintain eggs at 45°F or less, but it is strongly recommended to reduce the chance of illness. More information about egg sales is available
here. https://agriculture.ks.gov/docs/default-source/rc-food-safety/egg-fact-sheet-selling-eggs-without-a-license.pdf
Other foods which are ALLOWED to be sold without a license:
Foods that are ALLOWED to be sold directly to consumers in Kansas WITHOUT licensing, according to state regulations (Note: If your product is not listed in this section, please refer to the Licensing Required table further below)
Baked goods (home kitchen)
Cookies, breads, cakes, cinnamon rolls, fruit pies, fruit cobbler
Follow labeling requirements (listed below). Note that breads with cheese baked in/on them require testing to determine their category.
Icing with >65% sugar by weight
Icing on cinnamon rolls. If the icing is known to contain >65% sugar, testing and licensing is not needed. Otherwise, testing and possibly licensing is required.
Dry baking mixes
Cookie mix, brownie mix
Fresh (or dried or freeze-dried) uncut fruits, vegetables (not cut beyond normal harvesting), or any herbs
Tomatoes, melons, okra, apples, basil, garlic scapes
May be home-grown; any pesticide use must comply with label directions. If products are heat treated before drying, a license is required. If they are not heat treated before drying, a license is not required.
Whole, frozen fruits or vegetables NOT heated before freezing
Whole, uncut tomatoes that have not been blanched before freezing
If intact and the product is maintained frozen to the customer, no license is required.
Intact salad greens (not cut beyond normal harvesting)
Mixed greens with only intact leaves, includes microgreens and shoots (not cut beyond normal harvesting practices)
Follow weights and measures requirements. All sprouts and any leafy greens cut beyond normal harvesting cuts require a license.
Certain cut produce and cut herbs (other than cut tomatoes, melons, or leafy greens)
Cut berries, cut herbs, cut carrots, zucchini noodles, etc. Can be
frozen, fresh, dried, or freeze dried.
If product is blanched before freezing and has a pH above 4.2, licensing is required for frozen foods. If not blanched first, no licensing required. Note that if produce is heated before selling, a license is required. Herbs are NOT included in the leafy greens category and do not require a license to be sold even if cut.
Nuts and nut butters
Walnuts, pecans, peanut butter
May be sold shelled or in-shell. Peanut and other nut butters can also be sold direct to consumer without licensing. Nuts may also be roasted/smoked without a license.
Honey
Can sell direct to consumer without licensing. Sales of packaged honey to grocery stores (including consignment sales) for resale or sales by an individual that did not package the honey requires a KDA Food Processing License.
There are many more foods allowed for sale at a farmers market that do not require special food establishment licensing listed in the above publication as well as a list of restricted foods that do. Be sure to consult the regulations to know if you are in compliance.
Disclaimer: KSTATE extension information above is a source of suggestions and great information but is not an enforcer of state regulations.
Food safety/hygiene:
Vendors may use and are encouraged to use the triple sink and handwashing station which is available to all vendors and is located in the concession stand. Vendors offering free food samples should follow these safety guidelines offered by the K-State Extension office which can be found here: https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3311.pdf
