Temperatures that got close to 100 degrees in the area on Wednesday did cool slightly as a breeze came up in the late afternoon, setting the stage for a warm night at the Escalon Chamber of Commerce Farmer’s Market.
The June 18 gathering in the city’s Main Street Park was the third market, having started back in April and the second one offered in May. Two more are still to follow, the third Wednesdays of July and August; July 16 and Aug. 20.
It was another solid crowd that turned out for the event, staged from 5 pm. to 8 p.m.
Among the vendors on hand, young entrepreneur Ryah Rice, who was running a candle dipping booth, drawing in some business.
“It’s fun,” she said of making candles, as she offered instruction on how to dip the candles into the various colored waxes to create unique designs.
She was hoping to raise some spending money for summer trips through the candle dipping booth.
Elsewhere, newcomers to the Escalon market were representing Mondo Lane Produce, at Mondo Lane and Highway 108 in Oakdale. They had peaches, apricots and organic apricots, along with succulents for sale.
Joshua Best and Payton Long were staffing the booth.
“We started in Oakdale and now we’re just expanding, to Escalon and Waterford, and Riverbank,” Long said. “Next time we should have some pluots, more peaches.”
Musician Kenny Moore was performing on stage, while there were a variety of food, beverage and merchandise booths as well as fresh flowers, homemade treats and the farm products.
Maria Gonzalez of Atwater, showcasing a wide variety of sizes and styles of pet bandanas at her Mr. Cliff’s Bandanas booth, is a member of the Escalon Chamber of Commerce. She said she first took part in Escalon’s Christmas on Main as a vendor, then was told of the Farmer’s Market by Chamber officials and decided to sign up.
“We go to Turlock, you will find us there the first and third Saturday at the Turlock Market, we’re also (intermittently) at the Oakdale Morning Market and then you’ll find us sometimes in Riverbank, we also do other events at other locations,” Gonzalez said.
She added that the business basically grew out of necessity.
“So, we have a lot of dogs,” she admitted. “I have five of my own, my mom has seven and they’re all different sizes. I have a bigger dog and as he was growing, we couldn’t find a perfect bandana so I asked my mom to help me make a bandana; she sews.”
Gonzalez did the cutouts and her mom, Dulce Campos, did the sewing.
“They all came out great so we decided to offer them to the community,” Gonzalez said.
Top selling sizes are extra small and medium and Gonzlez said any pet can benefit from the stylish accessory.
“People buy bandanas for their lizards, their snakes; they’ll take a picture of them,” she said of customers sharing the photos. “Their ducks, their bunnies … it can just be for their pets.”
Many of the merchants return for each market, others are rotating in, with more anticipated for the July 16 event.
