Port Clinton Farmers Market starts season Sunday in new location

The Port Clinton Sunday Farmers Market is returning for its fourth season, bigger and better than ever with handmade, homemade and homegrown goods, all at a new location.

Opening Sunday at 9 a.m. at Hopfinger-Zimmerman Memorial Park, the market will feature local produce, plants, baked goods, vendors, musical guests and more on the south side (near the sledding hill) of the new 80-acre park on Oak Harbor SE Road.

Organizers expect 90 vendors

Organizers Abbie Fox and Courtney Kast have taken what started with eight vendors at the first market in downtown Port Clinton to a bi-monthly event with more than 90 vendors spread across 10 Sundays.

They were outgrowing the space available in downtown and wanted a place with a family-friendly atmosphere when Fox reached out to Lori Zimmerman, who had turned 80 acres of her late parents' former farmland into a free park.

“It’s a great location. We’re centrally located between Fremont, Oak Harbor and Port Clinton,” Fox said.

“It’s two great nonprofit organizations supporting each other,” Kast said of the partnership with Hopfinger-Zimmerman Memorial Park.

Money made from vendors' reserved spaces goes back into the marketing of the market, Fox said, and the rest will go to the park for future improvements.

Fox and Kast have worked hard to make sure vendors do not overlap specialties and encourage them to do things to make them different.

“We are so blessed to put this on and let the vendors do their thing,” Fox said.

Vendors come from all over Ohio and Pennsylvania, and will have local produce, baked goods, jewelry, plants, food trucks and more to sell. Vendors will be set up what the duo calls a vendor alley stretched behind the sledding hill and pavilion on the south end of the park.

Shoppers are encouraged to spend the morning and early afternoon at the park, where there are playgrounds, a fishing pond, a dog park, pickleball courts, pavilions and more to enjoy. Musicians will play every market as well.

“You can bring a picnic or buy something from our food trucks,” Kast said. “Get a breakfast burrito in the morning and barbecue in the afternoon.”

Most important to Fox and Kast is to continue to support community-focused events and small businesses while featuring a new park in the community.

“We’re all about handmade, homemade and homegrown goods,” Fox said.

The market runs until late October, the second and fourth Sundays of the month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Admission and parking are free.

Schedule, themes and musical acts

Dates for the markets and featured entertainment:

● Sunday ― Opening Day, Tony Robles;

● June 23 — Paint the Park Pink, The Mayfliez;

● July 14 — Farm Fresh Fiesta, Tony Robles;

● July 28 ― Christmas in July, The Mayfliez;

● Aug.11 ― Dog Days of Summer, Tony Robles;

● Aug. 25 ― Arts Around the Park, TBA;

● Sept. 8 ― September Sizzle,. Tony Robles;

● Sept. 22 ― Sunflower Spectacular, The Mayfliez;

● Oct. 13 ― Vendor Chili Cook-Off, Tony Robles;

● Oct. 27 ― Haunted Hopfinger, TBA.