OC Mag 01-22

TEXT BY KATE HARLOW | PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Off to
Market
Orange City Farmers
Market going strong after
more than 40 years
As sure as God makes little
green apples, from the
months of June through
September the Orange City Farmers
Market offers us a wide variety of
produce, most likely including some of
those little green apples.
But the Orange City Farmers Market
is so much more than that.
“That’s one of the things that I really
love about our Farmers Market — we
really have a huge variety of things to
offer. When most people think of farmers
markets they think of produce and
cookies, but we are so much more than
that,” said Miranda Fahrenbruch, the
market manager who co-leads the Orange
City Farmers Market along with
Orange City Chamber of Commerce
executive director Mike Hofman.
Fahrenbruch has been involved
with the Orange City Farmers Market
for six years first as a vendor with her
family’s business Fahrenbruch Gardens
and then she took on the role of helping
manage the market.
She and her family still take part in
the market as vendors and sell a variety
of items including flavored lemonades,
rubs and spices, hot cocoa mixes and a
few baked goods.
The products that Fahrenbruch Gardens
sells at the Orange City Farmers
Market are just the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to the wide variety that
can be seen at the market from 10 a.m.-
1 p.m. on Saturdays during the months
of the market.
On any given Saturday one could
find local honey, baked goods, goat
milk soap, sewn and crocheted items,
jellies, farm fresh flowers, locally grown
popcorn kernels, leather goods, string
art, jewelry, gems and polished rocks,
farm fresh eggs and decorative home
decor — plus tons of local produce.
“On a typical Saturday we have about
12-15 vendors and we had 21-22 vendors
over the course of the whole summer.
There are a few vendors who only come
for a few weekends a summer,” Fahrenbruch
said. “So every week the market
has something different to offer.”
The market has been an integral part
of Orange City since the 1970s.
“When they built the pavilion in
Windmill Park it was partly to be used
for the farmers markets. There’s even
a plaque at the pavilion from it’s dedication
in the ‘80s, that refers to this,”
Fahrenbruch said.
It’s evolved over the many decades
and now takes place in downtown Orange
City on a block of Central Avenue
between 1st and 2nd Streets. They shut
down the street so people can enjoy the
6 OC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022