By ALIYAH CONNER
Tiger Media Network
It’s nearing the end of the growing season at the Downtown Hays Market and vendors now offer melons, potatoes, onions, squash, and more. The market also offers crafts, flowers, baked goods, soaps, and other homemade goods and is made up of 22 different vendors.
Many vendors have been selling at the Downtown Hays Market for years. Jensen Farms has shown up almost every Saturday since it began 13 years ago.
“We started with the downtown market when it was on the other side of the street when we just started being beekeepers,” Amy Jensen said. “So we do honey and now we do mushrooms and then for the last four years we’ve been making breakfast. We own professors and make breakfast there and bring it here every Saturday.”
This year, event management has its own permanent building at the market location.
“I take care of the social media, vendor management, set up in the morning, tear down…keeping the community alive down here,” said Market Manager Hannah Giess. “Before we would go from the Chestnut building, take all our stuff and have to carry it here every Saturday.”
The small brick building next to the pavilion stores everything event management needs to set up every Saturday and provides some shelter from the weather and heat.
The Hays Downtown Market accepts SNAP and offers Double Up Food Bucks with participating vendors, making fresh, locally grown produce accessible to everyone.
With school beginning, things are slowing down at the Downtown Hays Market, but there’s still plenty to see and buy in these final few weeks of the year.
The Downtown Hays Market is open from 7:30-11 am every Saturday through October 17. The Market is located at the Downtown Pavilion.