..... stand up for change....voice aloud.

A few years ago I was reading an ad in the local newspaper about the Rio Linda Farmers Market and Peddler's Fair..... for all to come to the event of the week for downtown. So I went....and thank the GODS that my car wasn't loaded up the kids, a tired partner from working all day sitting next to me.... that if I lived 4 miles from this "event".

There was one tent that had brochures on three tables ....with several ladies sitting under this structure. Talking and having a good time. To the right of their tent was a vendor that had bottles of something....for sale. ......and a little wee bit of produce at the end of her six foot long table. I did not see any items from a farm.

What are items from a farm or a farmette ? Produce. Handmade merchandise create from a farm. Bakery. Jams and Jellies. Soaps and candles. Doesn't matter whether it's from a organic grower....or a sustainable grower....or just the plain ol' farm with old fashion theories on how to grow.

For that year....not much changed. The ads kept running and here is where the issues started. Folks are busy these days. They also expect what they read. If they are reading "come on down and join the fun on....." they drive there only to find...... one tent that had brochures and other info on three tables ....with several ladies sitting under this structure. Talking and having a good time. Just add caskets to this site and it would had be perfect.

Now why in the world should Farmer Deno and friends that are involved in farming.....care? Small farmers need as many outlets as possible to sell their crops and this includes a real, functioning Farmers Market. Having the general public drive up after reading the ads...only to see nothing......they will go to a nearby FM and never back to the Rio Linda FM. This happened over and over and over....................and over.

This current owner of the Farmers Market... C Moore (yes...it is a private business operation in a public park) heard of me and invites me see her at the FM. I offered to help to breath life back into this DOA market place....by becoming  the Co-Host.  Recommendations were to bring in more sellers and to promote through social networking. A web-page.  Get the bathrooms unlocked (!) Change the hours and the days to Saturdays. Free vendor space. Move her info tent to the far end away from the sellers. Make the sellers not to park in the front. Refreshments and a few picnic tables.

The second week in....6-7 vendors and a good little crowd. I stopped helping when the old guard refused to make most of the changes and there was another issue that I will not air here.

Back to the beginning now...."Now why in the world should Farmer Deno and friends that are involved in farming.....care"? We still do.

After applying public pressure through my blog and other avenues including many citizens that stood up.....the changes are being made as I type. There is food....more produce...music...a website...so on. I can verify that these changes were from me with a time line from FB and emails. Just stand up and demand change. It works in time.

Then they got a new logo and dumped that Gods awful one as above!

I had some hoodlums that tried to discourage my right to free speech and my right to make change. They claim that I was attacking Moore and a few others publicly. "Making trouble for the town" it was said.

Farmer Deno has been taking in false remarks to slanderous statements through emails and Wendy's Whitemores Face Book site. One is facing a potential lawsuit.  I had a few close friends that publicly encourage me to "leave it all alone and stop being a bully". Hell no.....stand up and call for change.

Should we call Wendy Whitehouse a bully for wanting change at the M Street park with her sculpturing and other visions? Perhaps we should call Cathy Nelson Hood of the Water Board a hoodlum for standing up and demanding change....that is why she is on the board, right? But Hood has forgotten her place for change.

No...they are just standing up for change. I respect that.....but they are bullies.

Yet.................we all are now seeing change of a large movement at the Farmers Market. It would not had happened if folks like Farmer Deno stood up and demanded change.
 

There are still issues with the current Farmers Market. Their application has several flaws of misleading information. Their advertisement is making it sound as if there is a vast number of tables with produce....there is not. Just three tables last week. The FM has entered info on their Face Book page only three times since Oct 15 2011. Still...it's a improvement that I am not knocking.

I do however detest the importation of produce from outside of our area. C Moore's explanation on Face Book was this : "All the other Farmers Markets do it" (verified). Not true. It's my understanding that she is not going to allow this to happen in the future. Farmers like us cant compete with imported tomatoes and the other goods from other countries.

All in all.......on the contrary of what some of Moore's friends think....I like  Moore "somewhat" on a personal level. I just dont like her Farmers Market business that was hurting us farmers... or her mouthy friend Cathy Nelson Hood which needs to get the facts right. No wonder why the water board is in a mess.

Special thanks to John Todd for helping C. Moore and the folks of Rio Linda. Farmer Deno for the time being is finished with this subject....as long as these changes are being made.