Early Spring Farmer's Market a prelude of things to come

The Early Spring Farmer's Market in downtown Carson City, a prelude to the Third and Curry Saturday Farmer's Market held throughout the summer, opened on May 7 and runs four Saturdays through May 28, Marketing Manager Linda Marrone said.

Visitors to the spring market will note some obvious differences between the early venue and the summer event held nearby.

For one thing, the spring market requires a lot less space.

"The Early Spring Farmer's Market is much smaller with only four farmers and four other vendors," she said.

For this reason, Marrone said, the early market is not held in the same location as the summer venue.

"We don't have it in the same place because people show up and think this is all there is," she said. "They're used to having the big market with 35 vendors, and when they see only eight, they aren't going to come back."

Another difference is you will see dogs at the Early Spring Farmer's Market, but not at the summer's Third and Curry venue.

Dogs are not allowed at the Third and Curry Farmer's Market, Marrone said.

This is because of the number of food vendors at the summer venue, she said. At the early spring event, there is but one food vendor present.

"It's been the rule for nine years, because of the food vendors," Marrone said. "Most farmer's markets don't allow dogs."

The Early Spring Farmer's Market is held every Saturday in May from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the corner of Musser and Nevada streets, just two blocks from the much larger Third and Curry streets venue, which is preparing for its June 4 start.

This is the first year at the Nevada and Musser streets location, Marrone said. The event was held the previous two years at Greenhouse Garden Center off South Curry Street. And before that, it was held in the parking lot of the old Carson Station, now the Max Casino.

"We decided this year to move it down here back downtown," Marron said. "You can still walk, you can still ride your bike, you can still drive. It's just a better place. We're only two blocks down from where the summer market is."

Despite its diminutive size, the spring market suffices to get the community in the seasonal mood and generate interest in the new produce season, Marrone said.

"It's to generate early interest," she said. "We have been doing the Early Farmer's Market for as long as we've been doing the Third and Curry Farmer's Market."

Wet conditions so far this year have been a welcome change for area farmers, who anticipate better crops of fruits and vegetables approaching summer, Marrone said.

"You're going to see just a good crop even in Carson," she said. "The apple trees are loaded. We had no apples last year. The rain helps things."

For some crops, the season is starting early this year because of all of the moisture over the winter and through the spring so far.

This is both good and bad, Marrone said, because while moisture can result in an earlier crop, it also means the season will end sooner.

"The cherries are out earlier, but they'll also end earlier, too," she said. "They've had a lot of water and a lot of sunshine where they are."

But regardless of moisture levels, fruits and vegetables will continue their seasonal cycles, Marrone said. Some produce will be ripe and ready before others.

"Everything comes in season," she said. "They'll all start with something and then they'll go into something else, so things change a little bit with what the vendors have as the summer progresses."

Marrone said she is hoping that the transition into spring and summer will follow its usual course as the days inch closer to the opening of the 2016 Third and Curry Farmer's Market.

"Hopefully, the weather will stay steady and get warmer," she said. "We should have a great opening for the market."

For more information on the Third and Curry Farmer's Market, go here or find it on Facebook.