Some markets in the area allow vendors to purchase their products from another source and resell it at the market. Not in Monroe! Our market rules are simple: vendors are required to grow, raise, or make everything they sell. Even the vendors who sell craft items are required to utilize raw materials when handcrafting their products to ensure that items are not mass produced by a third party.
For the market customer, this means that you can get answers to all your questions about ingredients and production so you can make well-informed purchase choices. Vendors often display pictures of their farms, fields and facilities, as well as offer literature for more information on their practices.
All vendors have to be approved and meet these qualifications before they are permitted to join the market. While sometimes vendors may have someone fill in for them at the market or need to send their products with another vendor on occasion, you can know that you'll meet the producer sooner or later!
So that is the reason you aren't likely to find olive oil vendors or be able to pick up a bunch of bananas at the Monroe Farmer's Market....unless they're hauling them to Monroe from their farms halfway across the world, of course! And it's also why you won't find tomatoes in January or apples in May. But summer or winter, you'll be able to take advantage of the wide variety of locally raised, grown, and handcrafted products that our southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois region have to offer.
