Signs of Summer: Lyme Farmer's Market Opens This Weekend!

By Chip Dahlke

Opening day for the Lyme Farmers Market is June 1st. I’ll take a moment to let you exhale.

This year is not a lot different from last year. Depending on your perspective this may be a good thing or a bad thing. If you like what we’ve done in the past it’s a good thing. If you believe we should constantly mix things up, it’s probably not to your liking. Sorry about that. It’s not like we’re Disney World that always has new rides coming on stream. If it makes you feel any better, I’m thinking of hanging a sign by the white gate that says. “Welcome to Farmer Market Land”. Maybe I’ll rent you a scooter and sell you a turkey leg for $12. That’s about as close as you’ll get to Orlando from here.

As always there’s been some turnover in Vendors. I’ll let you find out on June 1st who has left and who is new. It’s a teaser to get you here on opening day. I know that unless you have open heart surgery scheduled or have a child in school sports (why kids just can’t hang out and get into trouble on weekends I’ll never know) you’ll probably show up anyway, but we need to coax folks undecided. I think it’s important to be transparent with you. I know a lot of people (think White House) talk about transparency, but I’m trying to set an example here.

Our favorite Vegan Food Truck, G Monkey Mobile, will be here opening day. Mark Shadle might be the best Vegan Chef in Connecticut. Stop by and say hello to him. He’ll be the guy in the truck munching on seaweed. If seaweed isn’t to your taste, we have a lot more trucks coming this season.

Everyone seems to like food trucks. Carol and I were out in Portland, Oregon about a year ago and they have this section in the city that has blocks of food trucks. I forget what I ate, but I know I did it with a wooden fork. Portland is really into recycling. At one bar, I finished my drink and the bartender watered the plants with my old ice cubes. I thought it was pretty annoying.

Lots of new guest vendors this year. We got woodworkers, potters, bakers, handweavers, gypsies, shoplifters, natural beauty vendors, lepers and a whole bunch of other freaks of nature coming for your perusal. Naturally, the Lyme Garden Club will be here. Since marijuana has been legalized they’re all driving Mercedes, Rovers, and BMWs, but they’re still the sweet ladies they’ve always have been. Come buy some bud, I mean bulbs from them.

One bandwagon we’re jumping on this season is this whole gluten free wave. It’s probably just a fad like Thai food, but we’ll ride it as long as we can. One Vendor, Touch of Sweet, will be with us all season and others will be stopping by. If you suffer from Celiac disease, you need gluten free. If you don’t have Celiac, try some gluten free bread and pastries anyway. It’s not going to kill you.

Music this year will again cross a broad spectrum of sound. Dizzy River Band, Uncle Flatty, Silver Hammer, Eight Mile River Band, Hop River String Band, and Liquid Groove have already been booked. Bring lawn chairs and blankets. If you know of any musicians that would be a fit here let me know. I need to get hold of the barbershop quartet that we had a few years ago. Unfortunately I lost their contact info. Anyone know them?

So that’s how it’s going to be here on Ashlawn Farm this season. Pretty laid back and definitely less annoying than Portland. Once again, there will not be any poodle parades or eggplant carving contests. Those are even more annoying than Portland, Oregon. They are as annoying as Old Port in Portland, Maine.