Farmers Market to Stay Open a Little Later This Year

There will be more time to grab your favorite locally-grown produce and Michigan-made products at the Birmingham Farmers Market this year.

The market will be open an extra hour in 2013, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. every Sunday May through October. The extra hour was approved by the Birmingham City Commission at their Monday night meeting. Before this year, the farmers market closed at 2 p.m.

According to John Heiney, executive director of the Birmingham Principal Shopping District, it was the farmers and other vendors at the market that requested the extra hour.

"Some people are coming from church and they might miss the market," Heiney said, who added that the extra hour will give vendors an additional five days of selling time over the season.

Adding the extra hour every weekend was actually a compromise from the farmers' original request, Heiney said. According to Heiney, the farmers and vendors wanted to extend the market season through November.

This the 11th year for the farmers market, which starts on May 5 and wraps on Oct. 20. Located in the parking lot on North Old Woodward across from Booth Park, the market typically attracts 2,500 people every weekend, Heiney said.