Lawrenceville Farmers' Market Ends Season Early

The Lawrenceville Farmers’ Market, originally scheduled to be held every Saturday morning into October, has ended its 2011 season early. This past Saturday, Aug. 20, was the final day for the open-air market, which has been sponsored by since and held in the parking lot of Lawrenceville Fuel on Gordon Avenue since 2005.

“It was a difficult decision for the board to make, but it was necessary,” said Arthur Schonheiter, executive director of Lawrenceville Main Street.

Judith Robinson, who was brought in earlier this year to manage the farmers market, said the weekly attendance had been lower than expected – so much so that five vendors recently withdrew because “they just weren’t selling enough.” With only a handful of vendors remaining and too few options for those customers who did turn out, the decision was made to close early, she said. “It’s too bad. I was sad it closed. I tried really hard, did everything I could. I think it could have been really nice.”

Now, some are questioning if Lawrence Township is not friendly to small businesses and whether the played a key role in why the farmers’ market was so poorly attended.

“I think it was a combination of things. It was a combination of lack of community and municipal support,” Robinson said. “The sign issue was very difficult. We weren’t allowed to put any signs up except one on the day of the market and that was it. So that was very difficult.”

While Gary Hullfish, owner of Lawrenceville Fuel, was “so wonderful and supportive,” the parking lot on which the farmers’ market was held was “just a terrible location” because it is not visible to traffic on Route 206, Robinson said.

“People didn’t know where the market was,” she said.

At first, in an effort to advertise the market after its June 4 opening and direct motorists to its out-of-the-way location, Robinson put up small wire-framed signs, similar to those that political supporters erect during election season. Those signs, she said, were removed by the township and “I was told that I could not do that.”

She wanted to put a farmers’ market banner on the fence of Lawrenceville School, and got the school’s permission to do so, but again she was told that such a display was not permissible under the township’s sign ordinance, she said. 

“There’s a sign ordinance. I and other township employees are obligated to enforce that sign ordinance as it’s written,” Lawrence Township Manager Richard Krawczun explained. “There was a limit on the number of signs that could be placed, but that is applicable to all businesses or commercial messages in Lawrence Township. We need to be equitable in the enforcement of that ordinance. We don’t choose one party over another to have a different set of enforcement standards.”

“We had one A-frame sign that we could put out there and it was hard to place it where people could see if from both directions [on Route 206]. So people didn’t know where it was,” she said. “So it was really difficult to publicize the market. I had the five vendors pull out finally. And they stayed with me as long as they could. It wasn’t their fault at all. Many of them are very loyal. But if they’re not selling, they can’t afford to come. It costs them money to come to a market if they aren’t selling enough.”

“This is exactly the sort of reason I voted against the sign ordinance. It’s too regulatory. It’s hostile to small businesses particularly. Its major accomplishment is to make it more difficult for small business people to do business in Lawrence Township,” Councilman Bob Bostock, the lone Republican on the township’s five-person council, said. “This is what happens in the real world when local government tries to over-regulate.”

“I have certainly heard over the past four years from a number of business folks and homeowners who just find that we are just too much – some regulation is important to protect public health and safety but we just go way overboard and we’re more difficult than most of the other towns around,” Bostock said.

He recounted two stories which, for him, illustrate how some things in Lawrence Township are overregulated.

The first involved a Route 1 tobacco shop owner who, after being given permission from the township construction department, spent “tens of thousands of dollars” installing a “cigar tasting room” but then was informed by township health officials that such a room was a violation of a township ordinance.

“This was a case of two departments not talking to each other. We ended up amending the ordinance because state law did not prohibit a smoking room in that situation and it was hostile to business,” Bostock said.

The other involved a group of families from an autism association wanting to have a barbecue in Village Park. The head of the group had to go to several different township departments to get a permit signed. “The health department wanted to come out and inspect their grills. They wanted the fire department to come out and instruct them on safe grilling practices. These were a bunch of families using a public park to have a picnic. They weren’t going to be selling anything. The hoops they had to jump through – it was just ridiculous,” he said.

“All of these things make it more difficult for businesses to attract customers and if you can’t attract customers you’re not going to stay in business. That’s the reality of economics. And that’s what the farmers’ market has apparently seen – they’re not attracting sufficient customers, so they’re not going to stay. You certainly don’t blame the vendors and I don’t blame the administration for enforcing the ordinances that are passed. That’s their job. They would be negligent if they didn’t enforce the ordinances, and subject to legitimate criticism,” Bostock said.

“The blame lies with the council who passed an ordinance like this. It just makes it really hard for people to do business. It’s one of the reasons why we have so many vacant storefronts and office buildings around town. I just read in the paper this morning about Church and Dwight building a whole new corporate headquarters in Ewing. I’m sure they never considered coming to Lawrence because we have shown, I think, that we are pretty hostile to new business,” he added.

Councilwoman Pam Mount agrees Lawrence Township could be doing more to be business- and community-friendly. She and her husband Gary own , which had a stand at the Lawrenceville Farmers’ Market

“Princeton and West Windsor and Pennington – they’re all doing farmers’ markets, with town governments 100 percent behind them. The towns even pay for signs. Here it has been very difficult,” she said.  

“I was always perceived as having a conflict because I had a stand there. Of course I never made any money on that farmers’ market. They [the township administration] view it as a commercial enterprise. But farmers markets are not commercial. We’re lucky to have some people who want to participate. It’s all about people talking to their neighbors and having a cup of coffee or buying a couple carrots or an apple or something as a vehicle to bring the community together,” Mount said.

“All that takes a lot of effort. And Judith did a fantastic job. She runs a fantastic market in Princeton that’s booming. The difference is that the community is very supportive in Princeton, and not supportive here for a totally unknown reason. Well, it doesn’t help not having any signs and it doesn’t help not being allowed to move to a better location without having to go back to zoning.  In other towns, you just write a letter to the town and they say, ‘Have a market. Done.’ Or some towns use event permits because it’s an event, not necessarily a commercial business.”

Mount noted the absence of several notable Lawrence Township businesses from the Lawrenceville Farmers’ Market.

“It was very restrictive. In most places like West Windsor they have prepared foods and people sit around having breakfast or lunch. We used to do that. And that was great. But that was disallowed,” she said. “The bakery down the road right on Gordon Avenue, they got so hassled they dropped out. They’re over in West Windsor but they don’t come to their own town’s market. is in West Windsor but it’s not here. The whole point was to support local farms and businesses and have a community activity.”

Mount, as did the three other Democrats on township council, voted in favor of the sign ordinance. But she agreed that the process of revising that ordinance became “so onerous” and bogged down on details like the legal length of the string on a balloon on a real estate sign, that “we lost track of what the whole point of the thing was.”

Krawczun, the township manager, explained that the township “did attempt to work with the manager of the farmers market as well as the vendors to ensure that there was product safety and that vendors were compliant with all the state regulations. Whenever there’s food involved, there are certain sanitary requirements, labeling requirements, food-handling and packaging requirements. Certainly we can’t be selective in that enforcement. We have to be equitable in that enforcement.”

He added: “I did hear from Judith Robinson, the manager, that there were some questions raised on what the requirements were and I know our health officer met with the manager on a number of occasions and provided information to those vendors and the manager on what was required.

In terms of the future, Mount noted that, with over 900 businesses located in Lawrence Township, “there’s a lot of things that people don’t even know happen in this town in terms of things being made or produced that we really should be promoting and helping succeed.”

“I would like to rally people who are interested to try to figure out what other kinds of things we could do besides having an official, every-week farmers market,” she said. “Maybe we could have a monthly celebration of local entrepreneurs and food and fun activities, like a harvest festival. It might be something that Sustainable Lawrence and other groups might be able to pitch in and help make happen to bring some activity to different commercial areas in town, whether it’s Business Route 1 or the Bossio’s area of Route 206 or Main Street. I want to remain optimistic. I think this town is fantastic. I think people try hard to make things happen here.”

Greg Nicholas from Z Food Farms – which has its own farm stand at 3501 Princeton Pike – said his farm has been a supporter of the Lawrenceville Farmers’ Market since its inception. He is sad to see it end. “It is something we wanted to be part of. I’m the intern for the farm. It is a chance to learn about farmers markets and the local markets. I do it because I enjoy it.”

Nicholas said he feels the sign regulations hurt the market and prevented it from succeeding. He agrees more signage was needed since Gordon Avenue is not a major thoroughfare.

As she visited the Lawrenceville market on its final day last Saturday, frequent customer Karen Mason said, “I’m very upset. You get a great sense of community. It is a great place.”

It is unclear whether the Lawrenceville Farmers Market will return next year or in what form it will take. There was some talk of moving it to Weeden Park.

If it does return, the key to its success will be getting the word out and attracting enough customers, Robinson said. “Getting it known in other parts of town besides the small village [of Lawrenceville] is terribly important. The whole town has to be involved, not just the village. People have to get together and ask, ‘What do we want for our town and how do we achieve that,’” she said.

As for the township’s restrictions on signs, she said she is hopeful the community and the government can find a more equitable solution. “I don’t mean you have to open the doors and let everybody do everything. But you can sit down and work through something reasonably,” she said.    

What do you think? Is Lawrence Township's sign ordinance too restrictive? Lawrenceville Patch hopes to encourage a healthy debate and discussion about this and other issues affecting the township. Please comment on this story or send your "Letter to the Editor" to Lawrenceville Patch Editor Michael Ratcliffe at michael.ratcliffe@patch.com.