Volunteer deficit: Waterbury’s farmers market and dog park struggle to continue
November 9, 2024 | By Sandy Yusen | Correspondent 
The Rustics perform at the final Waterbury Farmers Market on Sept. 12. Photo by Gordon Miller
Despite their loyal followings, the Waterbury Farmers Market and Waterbury Unleashed Dog Park behind the scenes have been struggling this year to keep their largely volunteer-supported efforts going. Both organizations have experienced an exodus in volunteer leadership that is forcing existential changes to how the organizations are run or whether they will even survive.
Market runs low on volunteers, customers, vendors
The Waterbury Farmers Market is run by a paid part-time market manager and a volunteer board, who work together to sustain operations over the 16 weeks of its spring and summer season. But at the end of this year, three of the market’s five board members who serve in the positions of president, secretary, and treasurer, are stepping down. If no new volunteers come forward, the market will not have the people-power to operate next year.
Stanley and René Morse have been the board’s president and secretary, respectively, since the market began in 2017. They cover planning and decision-making ahead of the market season, vendor recruitment, community outreach and promotion, and hands-on assistance on market days. The Morses, both active and dedicated volunteers for many town organizations, feel it is time to step down to make way for what they hope is a new infusion of energy to keep the market going.
The Morses acknowledge that the market faces dwindling vendor numbers and foot traffic – challenges that new volunteer leaders will have to tackle. Christine Cameron, now in her third season as Waterbury’s market manager, describes it as a chicken and egg issue: “With farmers markets you need the vendors to bring in the customers but if you don’t have the customers you’re not going to have the vendors. It’s a very mutual relationship. You need both.”
This past summer, according to Cameron, the market started with 12 vendors but three dropped out halfway through the season and others were no-shows on some market days. Stanley Morse said he believes vendors aren’t seeing enough of a return to make their efforts worthwhile. “These people schlep a lot of stuff over there, set everything all up, and then they don’t get the sales that they expect so it’s not worth their time anymore,” he said.
According to Morse, the market runs on an annual budget of approximately $5,000. That needs 16 full-time vendors to cover expenses which include insurance, taxes, the market manager’s salary, and advertising. “Unless you get a certain amount of full-time vendors you go into the red, which is where we’ve been,” Morse said. The Morses admit to using their own personal funds to keep the market going.
One challenge has been attracting produce vendors. Stanley Morse noted that many farmers just don’t have available crops during the early market weeks. And, he says, some local farms find it easier to invest in their own farm stands rather than spend time at farmers markets. “After COVID, the farmers found out that they could do a lot of business right where they live, so people would come to them,” Morse said.
Cameron speculates that there could be an oversaturation of farmers markets regionally, and not enough farmers to participate. Andrew Graham, the Farmers Market Specialist at the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-Vermont), which serves as the state’s association for farmers markets, reports that the farmers market sector has grown significantly over the last 20 years. It peaked in 2015-2016 and dipped during COVID, he said, “but since then we’ve essentially plateaued in Vermont at around 60 markets. I think this might be the carrying capacity of the state.”
Graham does say there are fewer potential produce vendors in the area surrounding Waterbury. “It’s hard to financially make it as a farmer at the scale that is the sweet spot for market vendors,” he said. “That area just doesn’t have as many of the smaller farms that tend to be the folks who would vend at a market the size of Waterbury.”
Cameron and the board have considered options such as rebranding as a craft and farmers market or merging with other area markets, but neither idea has panned out.
The other challenge is attracting more market shoppers. In 2018, the market moved from the State Office Complex lawn to its current location in Rusty Parker Memorial Park to dovetail with Waterbury Rotary’s popular summer concert schedule. Cameron estimates that the move boosted market attendance to a few hundred attendees each week, but it didn’t increase sales. “Sometimes attendees think of this as a free event to connect with people and look around at different vendors, but they don’t necessarily buy things,” she said.
The economy is another likely challenge as people feel the pinch of higher food costs. “For most market customers, purchasing things at the farmers market is what an economist would call a luxury good,” Graham said. “You can get a similar product elsewhere, but you choose to go to the farmers market because you like it better and it's better quality, but during difficult economic times people tend to cut back on luxury goods, even food.”
Waterbury’s farmers market, like many in the state, is set up for eligible Vermonters to use SNAP benefits and receive matching funds to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables through NOFA VT’s Crop Cash program.
Graham, who provides guidance and professional development to farmers markets, advises that for Waterbury’s market to succeed, it needs to identify and deliver what the community wants. “The community needs to decide that they want the market, and somebody needs to decide that they want to do the work,” he said.
He further emphasized that in order to thrive, the market needs a team of people who are invested, combined with local champions that include customers, businesses, town government, and vendors.
The Morses say they hope new volunteers can be found before January 1 – the board’s deadline for determining whether the market will continue in 2025 and before market preparations begin for next season. Stanley Morse suggests interested volunteers email waterburymarket@gmail.com. He and promises that he and René are committed to supporting new volunteers in the transition.
If no one steps up, the board will close down the market and disband. Cameron said she hopes it doesn’t come to that. “It’s so sad to put all this effort and then to see it just be gone. It seems like Waterbury does not want it to close, but nobody really wants to step in and take it over,” she said. The Morses believe the farmers market is part of Waterbury’s identity and would be missed if the market ends. “When you think of a community, you tend to think that it has some sort of market where people can gather,” René Morse said.
Approximately $1,000 remains in the market’s coffers, according to the Morses, who report that a portion will compensate Cameron for her remaining work, and the rest will likely be donated to the Rotary. The weekly Rotary concerts, which began in 1982 – well before the market started up – are expected to continue.
NOFA’s Graham adds that in addition to being gathering spaces, markets help to nurture emerging start-up businesses. “They allow a lot of small businesses to exist in Vermont and provide an incubator space for somebody to test their business idea,” he said. Stanley Morse agreed, pointing to Hender’s Bake Shop & Cafe as an example of a local business that started at the market before opening its bakery on Main Street.
The Morses say they hope that sharing the threat to the market might spur people to get involved. ”Hopefully it will be a wake-up call for some people. We don’t want to scare people. But sometimes that’s what it takes,” Stanley Morse said.
Proposal leans on town for dog park upkeep
A kiosk at the Waterbury Unleashed Dog Park provides visitors with the park’s history, mission, amenities, park rules, and information on how to make donations to support the park. Photo by Sandy Yusen
Volunteer struggles are familiar to those overseeing the Waterbury Unleashed Dog Park over the past several years. Volunteers have been instrumental since the park was created in 2015 when the pocket of land behind the Waterbury Ice Center was converted into a safe, contained and welcoming place for dogs to play.
Last fall, the organizing group experienced a resurgence of interest and momentum after threatening to close the park due to an exodus of volunteer leaders from the area. A meeting to revitalize the volunteer effort attracted 40 attendees, about half of whom signed on to committees covering operations, development, communications, and maintenance.
The group also contracted with FORWARD (Friends for Waterbury Area Recreation Development), a local nonprofit organization that serves as the fiscal agent for the dog park, among other recreational entities. FORWARD holds the organization’s funds that have been raised through donations, currently totaling $3,300, that are used to cover the costs of maintenance and operations at the park.
Since then, what happened to the Dog Park Committee remains a bit of a mystery, according to Tami Bass, treasurer of FORWARD. This summer, Bass was informed by someone peripherally involved in the park that the group had disbanded. She reached out to get in touch with the last people who were involved and received no answer.
Signs at the Waterbury Unleashed Dog Park. Photo by Sandy Yusen
Despite the apparent breakdown in the organization, the Waterbury Unleashed Dog Park has a promising future. This summer, FORWARD notified town officials that the park committee had ended and it has proposed a new arrangement for the park to continue.
At its Nov. 18 meeting, the Waterbury Select Board is to discuss a proposed Memorandum of Understanding by which FORWARD would continue to hold the finances for the dog park and the town would take over caring for the park, providing oversight, maintenance and upkeep through the Recreation Department.
Recreation Director Katarina Lisaius said that plans for the town overseeing the dog park are in the early stages. “I would want to make sure that it still exists and is still at the level of what the volunteers have been doing,” she said.
In the meantime, a grassroots effort of dog owners has been helping to keep the dog park going in recent months. David Ruiz, a Montpelier resident who formerly lived in Waterbury, comes to the park regularly with his chocolate lab Ryker. He confirmed that there are volunteers who are weed whacking, mowing, picking up trash, and keeping it clean. He described the group as “like a family,” where people know each other's dogs and pitch in to create a nice environment for dogs and humans alike.
Signs at the Waterbury Unleashed Dog Park. Photo by Sandy Yusen
Bass said she is relieved that the town has agreed to oversee the park. “It would be sad to see the dog park have to close because I do know that it is well-used, and people really love it, and so it’s nice to see that the town understands it is a town asset and they’ll take responsibility for it,” she said.
A big volunteer role in a small town
Volunteers are an important resource for Waterbury’s many nonprofit organizations, town committees and boards. But while there are many opportunities to get involved, there is potential for organizations to become vulnerable during leadership transitions, as the farmers market and dog park are experiencing.
Waterbury Municipal Manager Tom Leitz acknowledged the strong role volunteers play in the community. “In the two years I have been here the select board has been able to fill volunteer positions – and generally without too much difficulty,” Leitz said. “I think this sets us apart from many neighboring towns. It also serves our taxpayers well because an awful lot of work is done by volunteers.”
Lisaius agreed that volunteers fill an important niche in the community. “We are very lucky that Waterbury is a great place with so many volunteers with so many interests, but I think we rely on volunteers for many things and I’m curious how that is sustained.”
She pointed to the numerous volunteers who helped with flood cleanup this summer and to Harwood Union High School students who helped in the parks for their community service day. “We are a small town…there’s only so many people here to tap into,” she said.
Stanley Morse from the farmers market board is one of those volunteers. He’s semi-retired and also volunteers with the Waterbury Fire Department, the Cemetery Commission, and other efforts around town such as clearing brush, removing graffiti, or moving debris from flooding. “This is my town. I take pride in it,” he said. Asked how more people can be encouraged to volunteer, he taps his heart and said, “That’s something that’s got to be here. You’ve got to want to help your community.”
Bass agrees. “Life’s busy for all of us and it’s just priorities,” she said. “Do you want to give back to your community? When people say, ‘Oh I don’t have the time,’ well, my belief is yes, you can make the time if it’s something you really want to do and you believe in.”