Shoshoni Farmer’s Market goes fulltime, featuring local vendors every Friday night

SHOSHONI, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) -

Outdoor farmer’s market season is here, and for a few vendors in Shoshoni, it means getting the chance to sell their goods close to home, without traveling 30 to 50 miles to nearby towns.

Vendors are hoping it also helps out local residents who won’t have to travel over 20 miles to the nearest full-service grocery store.

Jennifer Schanno is the woman who brought the market to Shoshoni last year, inspired by her own gardening ventures. Schanno stated, “And even themselves wanting to learn how to produce for their own families so I think with farmer’s market in our community, I think it could actually grow into bigger and better things.”

Schanno said her family grew a large garden last year, with a lot of extra produce she was hoping to share. She soon realized others felt the same about having a local market.

“I think that it’s great that Shoshoni and Riverton and Lander, all the communities are trying to get together and promote the agricultural business,” added Rita Mayfield, owner of M R Originals. Mayfield attends the market selling her homemade metal yard art.

Another vendor used to travel to Casper to sell their goat milk products. Since she and her husband are retired they’ve cut back their travelling to Fremont County markets. She said her husband’s love for milk and the cost of it, was the reason for their business venture.

Kathy Brower, co-owner of ‘Got Milk Dairy’ with her husband John, stated, “We got to thinking about it and we decided rather than a cow, we would get a goat, so we started with two. It exploded from there. People found out we had it, we started selling a little bit and people wanted more and more.” She said they started with 25 head of goats, and since they retired, are down to six.

Rain, wind or shine, they plan to be in Shoshoni every Friday to give locals a homegrown option. Brower added, “Any market that’s close to you, give it a try because this is homegrown, home raised product. It is excellent, Wyoming supports farmer’s markets with the Food Freedom Act , and we’d like to see more people out.”

The Shoshoni market is downtown every Friday night from 5 to 7. In case of bad weather, they’ll be in the community room across the street.

Copyright 2021 Wyoming News Now. All rights reserved.