NKwhy: What does it take to be a farmers market vendor?

BY MAGGY MCDONEL | LINK NKY DIGITAL EDITOR

Alabor of love seems to be the best way to describe what it’s like to be a part of Northern Kentucky farmers markets.

From the organizers to the farmers to makers, everyone involved is looking to do one thing: help support local businesses.

“We all operate very much as a family, and so there’s a lot of support,” said Fort Thomas Farmers Market Marketing Manager Tiffany Tomeo.

Tomeo said vendors are always supporting each other; whether it be watching their booth for a bit or helping another seller set up, they’re always there for each other.

With markets all over NKY in full swing, we decided to ask some local vendors and organizers what it’s like to be a part of the farmers market family.

KY Girl Hemp

“I just love the camaraderie of all of the

Notice Of Public Hearing

The Public Service Commission of Kentucky issued an order on January 6, 2023, scheduling a hearing to be held on August 22 –25, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time, in the Richard Raff Hearing Room at the offices of the Public Service Commission located at 211 Sower Boulevard in Frankfort, Kentucky, for the purpose of crossexamination of witnesses in Case No. 202200402. This is an examination of the Electronic Joint Application of Kentucky Utilities Company and Louisville Gas and Electric Company for Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity and Site Compatibility Certificates and Approval of a Demand Side Management Plan and Approval of Fossil Fuel-Fired Generating Unit Retirements.

This hearing will be streamed live and may be viewed on the PSC website, psc.ky.gov.

Public comments may be made at the beginning of the hearing. Those wishing to make oral public comments may do so by following the instructions listed on the PSC website, psc.ky.gov.

Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company

220 West Main Street Louisville, Kentucky 40202 vendors that we have at every market,” said Rose Seeger, owner of KY Girl Hemp.

Seeger started her hemp product business after experiencing effects from the work she does at her other company Green City Resources. There she designs and installs rooftop gardens all over the Cincinnati area.

She started to have trouble getting up on the roofs she was working on.

“I started using CBD for my arthritis and aches and pains, and it was just a gamechanger for me,” Seeger said.

Her cousins grow the hemp in Cynthiana, Kentucky, and it is then shipped off to Kentucky-based processors who turn the hemp into everything from CBD oils to gummies to infused lotions.

Seeger sells at several local markets, including Covington and Fort Thomas, plus she sets up at local events like Weed Fest in Covington last weekend.

She said she gets amazing support from other vendors and her customers.

Laughing Bees

Annie Brown’s best-selling product came about by somewhat of an accident.

Brown was part of a food entrepreneurship program with Covington-based smallbusiness accelerator The Center for Great Neighborhoods of Covington that ended right before Christmas.

After completing the program she decided to apply to be in the Fort Thomas Holiday Market. At the time, she was just doing honey products, but the organizers wanted her to do something different, so she offered to make caramels.

Up until then, she had never offered caramels, but she went home and spent two days perfecting a recipe, and it was an instant success.

“That’s kind of what Laughing Bees is known for now.” Brown said.

Since then, Brown said she has gone from a home baker to working out of as space at the Incubator Kitchen Collective in Newport.

“My family was very happy about that,” she said.

To create her treats, Brown sources her honey from local beekeepers like School House Bees in Covington. The day before a market or event, Brown said she takes stock of all she has and, when she needs, makes more of anything she’s short of, packages them, and gets ready for a long day of selling.

She said she’s learned a lot from her fellow vendors, especially when she first started.

“I’m still kind of new compared to some of the people there, and just, you know, the advice that they’ve been given me has been so helpful,” Brown said. “I feel like I’m more a part of the community since I’ve been vending at this farmers market. You know, just getting to know the people who come there every week and the other vendors who were there.”

Springcreek Farm

Multiple times a week, Eric Keef and his employees at Springcreek Farm pack up and make the drive from Maysville, Kentucky, up to NKY to sell fresh produce at farmers markets.

Keef is a vendor at the Fort Mitchell, Covington and Fort Thomas farmers markets. He sells whatever produce is in season and plentiful on his farm.

While his farm is 65 acres, most of it is leased out, and all of what he sells is grown on only a half-acre. He and his wife, plus two seasonal and one full-time employee, work the land and prepare all the produce for sale.

The truck is loaded the night before, then Keef said he’s up at 4 a.m. getting the last few things ready, and they are on the road by 6 a.m. on Saturdays in preparation for the 9 a.m. start at the Covington Farmers Market. After that, they head over to the Fort Mitchell market. And on Wednesday, they’re over in Fort Thomas.

Even with the twice-weekly hour-plus drives, Keef said his carbon footprint is much lower than that of large grocers, which he said is his main reason for doing what he does.

Behind the scenes

Every week, Tiffany Tomeo with the Fort Thomas Farmers Market and five or six unpaid volunteers work together to help the market go off without a hitch.

Set-up begins around noon for the 3 p.m. start. The group members arrive at the market’s space in Tower Park and make sure everything is ready for the vendors to set up.

They’ll make sure any food trucks they’ve booked know what they’re doing, as well as setting up for special events like the recent “Christmas in July” theme, which had a Santa meet-and-greet plus Christmas-themed crafts and scavenger hunts.

Tomeo said they try to keep the same vendors year after year so that customers know what they’re going to get when they stop by.

At the end of the season, Tomeo said they evaluate their vendors and try to fill any gaps they may be missing.

“It has been really phenomenal to just watch people continue to support the farmers market,” Tomeo said. “And it just makes a huge difference for just our entire region, as we continue to support these small businesses and these farmers, (it) really just enhances everything that our region offers.”

Jury finds man guilty of multiple charges in connection to death of NKY teen

investigators originally searched for her body following her disappearance.

Johnson had just turned 17 when she was reported missing to the Covington Police Department on Sept. 23, 2010. Alicen Franks, Johnson’s cousin, said she last saw Johnson with Bumpass in Covington that day.

After three years of litigation outside of court, Bumpass’s trial began on July 17.

torney Rob Sanders in 2020.

Dental records helped identify Johnson, and DNA evidence allowed prosecutors to file the charges against Bumpass.

Prior to the trial’s start, Johnson’s sister, Brittany Haywood, said she’s been looking forward to laying her sister to rest regardless of the trial’s outcome.

The Young Marines National Leadership Academy takes place every year and sees members from all over the country gather to improve “leadership, mentorship and management skills while competing in physical challenges and being evaluated on their knowledge, skills and abilities,” according to a recent press release from the organization. “The 10 best candidates were selected as the prestigious Top Ten Graduates of the Advanced Leadership School.”

After deliberation that spanned two days, the jury in the Jacob Bumpass trial found him guilty of tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse in connection to the death of 17-year-old Paige Johnson of Northern Kentucky.

The trial took place 13 years after Johnson disappeared; a hiker found her remains in 2020 off of State Route 276 — just two miles from a spot in East Fork State Park where

Bumpass was never charged with Johnson’s murder. That’s because prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to file homicide charges, in part because coroners were unable to determine a cause of death for the 17-year-old mother.

Instead, he faced two charges: one count of tampering with evidence and one count of abuse of a corpse.

“Until somebody convinces me that this was not a homicide, I will always be a little disappointed that there will not be more justice available for the Johnson family,” said Kenton County Commonwealth’s At-

Johnson’s remains have been kept in evidence since they were recovered, and Haywood said she plans to finally bury her sister once they’re released.

Beechwood sophomore named Top 10 member of Young Marines academy

Abby Smith, a sophomore from Beechwood High School in Fort Mitchell, was honored as a Top 10 member in this year’s Young Marines Leadership Academy in San Pedro, California.

The Young Marines are a national youth organization of boys and girls from ages 8 through high school graduation.

“(The leadership school) was a life-changing experience. I learned so much about the Young Marines program and leadership,” Smith said in the same release. “The most beneficial part of (the school) was learning about how to shape the Young Marines in my unit into better leaders. I love all the opportunities this school gave me, and the people I met are going to be my friends for a lifetime.”

Smith said she hopes to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and join the U.S. Navy upon graduating high school. She plans to study mechanical engineering and serve as a surface warfare officer.