Opening day at the Harvest Market

My first experience at the Downtown Elgin Harvest Market was filled with friendly faces and fresh food! When I first arrived it looked as if there was the potential for rain, but it turned out to be a warm sunny day with a nice cool breeze. I started the day by meeting all of the vendors that will be participating in this year's market and telling them about the free reusable tote bags available for customers . It looks like we are going to have a great lineup offering all kinds of fresh produce, along with unique products that you will not be able to find in your grocers freezer!
After greeting the vendors I got down to work. One of my main tasks as the intern for the Harvest Market will be conducting consumer surveys next to the Downtown Neighborhood Association tent. These surveys are going to help me compile data relevant to the market so I can log results for this year, and recommend areas of improvement for the 2010 season. I started recruiting people to take my dot survey, and before I knew it I had over 50 responses. As the day progressed, it seemed like more and more people came to the market on their breaks from work looking for that perfect lunchtime option. Conveniently, the organic hotdog vendor was on site taking care of appetites (including my own). When the market came to a close I packed up my survey materials and chatted with the vendors one last time. Overall, the opening day for the market was a great success and I look forward to helping every Thursday!