Farmers' Market: A Labor of Love

The Marco Island Farmers’ Market, which opens at 7:30 sharp every Wednesday morning during the winter season, has a distinctly laid-back, island vibe that belies the long hours and hard, often very physical work of the more than 80 vendors it features this year.

Take, for example, Port Saint Lucie-based Herbeque Catering, which has been serving its smoked barbeque products and homemade side dishes to marketgoers for 15 years, making it one of the longest-running vendors at the market.

“A typical day for us starts at eleven o’clock the night before,” said Herb Prince, who owns and runs Herbeque Catering with his wife Danielle. “We load the trucks and hit the road by midnight so we can get here by about three fifteen. We start smoking our meat at four and start serving around ten. It’s definitely a labor of love.”

Prince says that after packing up their smoker and other gear when the market closes at 1:00 PM, driving for three hours back to Port Saint Lucie and unpacking their trucks, they can finally rest at 7:00 PM, wrapping up their 20-hour workday.

When asked about his motivation for such a grueling task, Prince doesn’t hesitate. “I’m a people person,” he said. “When you love people and being around people, it’s like a magnet. It’s more than just doing barbeque; it’s the companionship and camaraderie and the friendship that you get when you’ve been serving many of the same customers for 15 years.” 

My Exotic Fruits is another Farmers’ Market vendor with equally grueling hours. Based in Homestead, a two-hour drive from Marco, the vendor sells chopped exotic fruits including jackfruit, dragon fruit, passion fruit, guava, and champagne mango, and also makes fresh smoothies with the fruit.

“We get up around one in the morning and get here around four,” said Victor Lara, who runs the stand and whose father owns the business. “Once we get here, we unload the truck, set up the tents, put up the tables, and start chopping up the fruit. It really picks up around nine or ten and we get a giant rush. We’re then unable to do anything but sell.”

Lara says he and his team like being their own bosses and the ease with which their business generates considerable income, despite the grueling hours. “It’s easy work,” he said. “I know it doesn’t sound like it, but it’s just a bunch of physical labor and a little bit of math. That’s pretty much it.”

Chad McVeigh owns Cape Coral-based Chad’s Chairs, which makes and sells beautiful outdoor teak furniture, all designed and handmade by McVeigh with occasional help from his wife. “It’s all made out of African teak, or iroko,” he said. “It’s lifelong furniture that will never deteriorate.” 

McVeigh says he spends three to four hours Tuesday night loading the heavy wood furniture into his large trailer and arrives at the market by 6:45 AM. The market requires vendors to clear the walkways of any trucks or trailers by 7:15, so it’s a hectic half-hour for McVeigh setting up his tents and signage, unloading the chairs and setting up his displays. And even after the market closes and his trailer is loaded, his work isn’t done.

“Now I’m delivering all the chairs I sold today,” he said as the Market closed. “Then it’s back up to Cape Coral to drop my trailer off at the shop.”

In addition to the roughly 14-hour days he spends selling at three different farmers’ markets each week, McVeigh says he spends another three days a week making the furniture he sells. When asked if he was trained as a carpenter, the hardworking, self-starter’s answer wasn’t surprising.

“I was a residential home appraiser for a long time, until 2008 when the market crashed,” he said. “I fished around for a couple years for what I could do and just fell into making these chairs. I taught myself through YouTube videos and sort of reverse-engineered everything, taught myself the tricks of the trade, and over ten years, I perfected the craft.”

Among the vendors with the biggest physical presence at the market are the fresh produce stands, which sell dozens of varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. Produce Buddies is a multi-generational, family-owned business now run by Jeff Etnoyer.

“My grandma raised us and taught us the business,” he says. “I’ve been doing this since I was seven years old.”

Based in Naples, Etnoyer says he wakes up at 1:00 AM and with his team, takes about two and a half hours to load their large box truck and arrive at the Market around 3:00 AM to set up. It takes another hour or so to break down and re-load the truck after the Market closes before returning to Naples, where the produce is then unloaded into a large storage cooler.

“It’s about a 16-hour day before I get home,” said Etnoyer, who, with his colleagues, attends eleven farmers’ markets a week during the season.

“It’s the only thing I’ve ever known to do,” the energetic Etnoyer said. “It’s nice being outside, and we get to meet new people. You never know who you’re going to run into or what story you’re going to hear.”

Samantha Malloy, Manager of Parks, Culture and Recreation for the City of Marco Island, says the vendors, who pay a fee to sell their wares at the Market, are selected with input from the Parks and Recreation team, the City’s Facilities team, City staff and other departments.

“Our Farmers’ Market is organized a little differently than many others,” she said. “We focus not only on the vendors and their products but also the overall atmosphere and community experience of the event.”

Malloy said that focus on community and atmosphere gives the group of close-knit vendors a family feel.

“What I truly appreciate about our vendors is the way they help each other,” she said. “They help their neighbors who need assistance to set up their booth, watch over another’s booth when one needs a quick break, and offer guidance to vendors who are new to the market. I would say the Marco Island Farmers’ Market is one of the best events that we provide to our community.”