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SERVING UP FAMILY FUN RIPON FARMERS MARKET By MARG JACKSON
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or a five-month period from early May through late September, fresh produce takes center stage in Ripon. Hosted weekly, the Ripon Farmers Market serves as a fundraiser for Garden Joy, a community-centered garden that both teaches youngsters about sustainable growing practices and benefits local food banks through donations. The market runs each Thursday evening, with the 2023 dates from Thursday, May 4 through Thursday, Sept. 28. Hours are 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and the market is set up in the parking lot at Garden Joy, 929 W. Main St., Ripon. Sarah Darpinian is Executive Director at Garden Joy while Heather Crooker is the Market Manager for the weekly Farmers Market. “The market is a fundraiser for Garden Joy,” explained Crooker. “All of our vendor fees go to the garden.” Opening the market in 2019, Darpinian said that’s the year that Crooker joined the board of Garden Joy and, as a market vendor with E&H Farms out of Oakdale, specializing in gourmet mushrooms, she was already often attending the market.
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“She offered to take over managing the farmers market, she has made it bigger and better,” Darpinian explained of board member Crooker stepping up. “She had a lot of vendor contacts and she started managing it in 2021.” Garden Joy shares space in Ripon with Studio Joy, a yoga studio, so it is that parking lot that fills up with booths, activities and shoppers throughout the summer. “We think of it of not just having a farmers market but creating an experience,” noted Crooker. “There’s live music, a beer garden, local artists on the front lawn, one week there
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3/27/2023 8:17:49 AM