One last look this year at the colors of the Collinsville Farmers Market, which concluded the 2010 season, its fifth, on Sunday, Oct. 24. The market is expected to return in June of 2011. Photo: dotCANTON
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 The Collinsville Farmers Market is always a festival of color. Photo: dotCANTON By Steve Wilder dotCANTON.com It was only five years ago that the Collinsville Farmers Market was wrapping up its first season in town. That initial year and the next, the market was set up every Sunday in the dusty gravel parking lot below the Canton Historical Museum’s porch. There were three vendors the first year and “about five or six” the second, according to Mary Engvall, the market’s vendor liaison and marketing chairperson. With the Collinsville Farmers Market poised to conclude its 2010 season on Sunday, Oct. 24, it’s clear that times have changed and the market has grown up. For three years now, vendors have arrived on Sundays sometime before 10 a.m. and set up shop on the smooth pavement of the town hall parking lot. And in that time the list of vendors has expanded to 15 firm, according to Engvall, with a few others always ready to step in should a regular need to take a week off. But if you think C.A.R.E. (Canton Advocates for Responsible Expansion), which sponsors and produces the market as a nonprofit endeavor, is entertaining thoughts of growing even larger, think again, Engvall says. “The thought now,” she says, “is kind of, don’t fix it if it’s not broken. The vendors do a great business there. “Our mission is really to emphasize agriculture as a smart use of land. We wouldn’t want it to look like a fair,” Engvall says. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but (C.A.R.E.) is really about supporting agriculture, so we want it to be a growers’ market.” Those growers come from Canton — Wild Carrot Farm and Bristol’s Farm — and from other nearby communities, including Burlington, Harwinton and New Hartford, to name a few. The crops du jour and their array of tantalizing colors set the mood for shoppers each Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The live entertainment in the background and visits by all sorts of folks and families who come with their kids and their canines only adds to the festive atmosphere. And that’s another reason why the Collinsville Farmers Market will be back in the town hall parking lot for its sixth season next June, when the berries have begun to grow. “We love the way our community has taken to it,” Engvall says. “We don’t want to take a bigger space where we’d have to move away from Collinsville. It’s really been a neat home for us.” Click on Farmers Market ’10 under “Categories” in the column to the right for a look at some of the things that were sold at the Collinsville Farmers Market this year.  Gourds from Wild Carrot Farm in Canton. Photos: dotCANTON.com The leaves on the trees have only begun to show their fall hues, remaining far less impressive than the colorful produce that was for sale Sunday, Sept. 19, at the Collinsville Farmers Market. The market’s 2010 season is heading toward the home stretch, with five Sunday sessions remaining before the last of the year on Oct. 24. To check out a sampling of the colorful items for sale Sunday, including some from Wild Carrot Farm in Canton, click on any of the 12 images below and use the arrow left or arrow right button at the bottom of the larger image that pops up. To return to this page, click on the full image you are viewing. 
 You never know who might show up at the farmers market in Collinsville. The two guys and the little lady, right, all from Avon, seemed to be enjoying the sights and scents. — dotCANTON  Gas leak occurred in area below white canvas in photo above. Photo: dotCANTON A gas leak near a walkway behind town hall in Collinsville Sunday, Sept. 19, brought firefighters to the scene and briefly disrupted activities at the nearby Collinsville Farmers Market. The leak apparently started when a brick worker on a scaffold accidentally dropped something that “sheered off part of the gas line,” according to firefighter Wayne Goeben of the Collinsville Station. Police, who arrived on the scene first shortly after noon, moved vendors and shoppers away from the buildings on the east end of the town hall parking lot and down toward Main Street and the Crown & Hammer Restaurant & Pub. Firefighters blocked off Main Street at the intersections of Bridge Street and Front Street. Goeben said three trucks and “about 20 firefighters” responded to the call. He said the brick workers had managed to turn off the leak before the firefighters arrived. Witness said there had been a strong smell of gas in the air and that a hissing sound could be heard. Curt Edgar, a volunteer with C.A.R.E., which organizes and runs the farmers market, said the leak disrupted activity for about 25 minutes. The building being repaired fronts onto 110 Main Street and houses Rootz Universal Unisex Salon. Edgar said the workers were repointing bricks on the building.  Vendors and shoppers have been moved away from Sunday's gas leak in Collinsville. Photo: dotCANTON  Firetruck blocks Main Street at Front Street in Collinsville. Photo: dotCANTON  Closeup look at the area of Sunday's gas leak in Collinsville. Photo: dotCANTON – dotCANTON  Organic produce grown by Wild Carrot Farm in Canton can be purchased at the farm store, above, located at 541 Albany Turnpike. Photo: dotCANTON  The land along Albany Turnpike across from the Farmington River in Canton has been known as Bristol's Farm since the 1800s. Photo: dotCANTON You can’t stop tasting the possibilities as your eyes drink in the colors, shapes and textures of the produce being offered by Wild Carrot Farm at the Collinsville Farmers Market. And if you’re a Canton resident, you can’t help but smile with a bit of pride when you’re reminded that it all came from Canton soil … and that it’s all USDA certified organic. Mark Palladino is the founder of Wild Carrot Farm, which operates on about 10 acres it leases from David Bristol Sr. directly across Albany Turnpike (Route 44) from the Farmington River. That land has been known as Bristol’s Farm since 1870, according to Palladino, who has been growing crops on an ever-increasing amount of the space over the last seven years.  Wild Carrot Farm founder Mark Palladino says he's growing 85 different crops this year. Photo: dotCANTON What’s harvested there is sold at three farmers markets — the Windsor Farmers Market on Thursday afternoons, the Litchfield Hills Farm-Fresh Market in Litchfield on Saturdays and the Collinsville market on Sundays. It’s also sold at 541 Albany Turnpike in the farm store adjacent to the fertile field. Palladino says he’s growing 85 different crops this year — all certified organic. “The season starts in March in the greenhouse, and we start selling in May through November,” he says. According to Palladino, Wild Carrot Farm is best known for the varieties of lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes it grows, and for its winter squash. Garlic and onions are two of August’s hot items, according to Palladino. He says the garlic is hanging and curing now and will be available for sale this coming weekend. During the summer, the farm store is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Non-certified organic items grown off-site — strawberries, blueberries, corn and apples among them — are also sold at the store, but, Palladino says, they are properly marked and segregated from the other crops. But even when it comes to that produce, Palladino has set strict standards. “It’s important that we get it fresh from local Connecticut farms,” he says. The dotCANTON gallery below features a visual sampling of several of the items being sold by Wild Carrot Farm on Sunday, Aug. 1, at the Collinsville Farmers Market. For a larger view of the images below, click on any of the 16 and use the arrow left or arrow right button at the bottom of the larger image that pops up. To return to this page, click on the full image you are viewing. 
– dotCANTON A look at some of the things that caught dotCANTON’s eye during a visit to the Collinsville Farmers Market on Sunday, June 20, Father’s Day. To see a larger view of the images below, click on any of the 16 and use the arrow left or arrow right button at the bottom of the larger image that pops up. To return to this page, click on the full image you are viewing. 
Photos: dotCANTON The Collinsville Farmers Market opens for the season today, Sunday, June 13. The market will be open every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine, at the corner of Bridge and Main streets in the town hall parking lot. More than a dozen local farms participate, offering fruits, vegetables and other locally made products, including goat cheese, flowers and herbs. The Collinsville Farmers Market is expected to remain open until late October. – dotCANTON |
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