Farmers Market opening helps vendors realize dreams

By Mytae Carrasco

Saturday, May 2, 2009 | 4:30 p.m.

The Las Vegas Farmers Market celebrated its grand opening downtown on Friday afternoon.

Locals, tourists and casino employees leaving work trickled into the East Fremont District to take a look at the new market. Instead of a usual ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Farmers Market opened with a carrot-breaking ceremony.

Mayor Oscar Goodman and Ginger Johnson, manager of the Las Vegas Farmers Market, broke their carrots in half to wish the market success.

“This is really a dream come true, this is what we wanted the downtown to become -- a place where people can congregate and have a good time -- and we’ve been begging for the Farmers Market to be here. It’s a wonderful addition,” Goodman said. “I hope that as time goes on we’ll have thousands of people down here and all of the purveyors will be very successful.”

Everything at the market has to meet the guideline of “make it, bake it, sew it or grow it.”

“This is what the street was made for -- events just like this, and we think this will continue to grow and we hope in a couple of weeks we will be two blocks and maybe in one month we will be three blocks,” said Mike Nolan, president of the Fremont East Entertainment District.

Vendor Max Galvis on Friday asked those in attendance to try his strawberries before buying them.

“Everyone here seems to be enjoying it so far,” he said. “The amount of people who come fluctuates but you just accept it and move forward.”

Chatter at the market indicated the deals were better than at the grocery store.

Joe Vergara and Liza Vergara-Gross, from the brother-and-sister-owned bakery Sasa Sweets, are living their dream of using their culinary talents for others to enjoy.

“I left corporate after 10 years of doing I.T., then decided it was sucking the life out of me and I wanted to live a dream,” Joe Vergara said.

Liza also didn’t want to be in a cubicle anymore, so they both agreed to go for it. She moved from Chicago to Las Vegas to live her dream.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be happy unless I was doing something I really liked to do. You reach that point that you don’t think you’re going to be happy until you work for yourself. It was a now or never type of thing,” she said while smiling, handing a gooey chocolate peanut butter brownie to a customer.

Over at Dazzles, which specializes in gourmet oven-baked corn, Ryan Gonzales said, “I like the vibe that is going on, there is a lot of people, everyone is just doing their own thing. The key is to get it in their hand (popcorn), let them try it and let them fall in love.”

Senior citizens who visit the market can take advantage of the state’s Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition program, which gives eligible seniors the opportunity to take home fresh fruits and vegetables.

Debbie Garrison, her husband Dan and daughter Stephanie have been in the farmers market business for more than 10 years. Stephanie Garrison said she enjoys helping seniors pick out their produce for the week. Among her most popular sale items are tomatoes, asparagus, green beans, apples and pears.

“I like the market people here. They’re my family,” she said.

But it’s not all fruits and vegetables. Sin City Kettle Corn & More is among the vendors selling funnel cakes.

Shannon Moses handles the business under the tent. She is also a mother of six and a nurse.

“It was just a whim and it was for the kids to have a part-time job to get started,” she said. “Then we were voted best kettle corn in Las Vegas and from that point on we kind of blossomed.”

The Las Vegas Farmers Market will be in downtown Las Vegas every Friday on Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Sixth Street from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. with free parking at the El Cortez.