After the The Common was renovated, the market moved to its current location and expanded to a year-round market. Since well before its launch in 2013, Roots Rising Executive Director Jessica Vecchia has worked to create and sustain a farmers market in Pittsfield that both invites, feeds and supports the entire community in a number of cutting-edge ways. After the Pittsfield farmers market at Park Square closed mid-season about 14 years ago, Vecchia did some research to find out how to build a lasting model.
“What we learned is a lot of markets closed within the first couple of years,” Vecchia said. “And a couple of the reasons were because they don't market themselves and spend the money on marketing. And they don't have management.
” Running a farmers market, she said, takes a lot of work. “And so we knew that we really wanted to invest in those areas,” she said. The market opened on a pothole-pitted parking lot on First Street, but “there was just really great energy.
” After the The Common was renovated, the market moved to its current location and expanded to a year-round market. Since 2019, the Pittsfield market has been youth-run by crews who have worked with Roots Rising in prior years. Since 2019, the Pittsfield Farmers Market has been youth-run by crews who have worked with Roots Rising in prior years.
“So now we have a whole crew of teenagers that are involved in all aspects from the setup and the breakdown to vendor support to running our food just.