Brazos County Farmers’ Market remained open close to Christmas
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – With Saturday being two days before Christmas, most local businesses are closed, but the Farmers’ Market in Brazos County remained open.
Eighteen local vendors came out and opened up their stalls.
“We are here rain or shine, 52 Saturdays out of the year from 8 to noon here in Bryan,” said Christopher Jagge, one of the vendors.
The vendors said the reason they’re open this close to Christmas is because they rely on their customers and their customers rely on them. They stress the importance of shopping locally, especially during the holidays.
“If you’re a farmer, the plants are still growing, the chickens are still laying eggs, you still have product regardless of the calendar itself,” said Jagge.
“Despite the holidays, when you come out here, it supports us farmers. We’re able to help get you the products that you need and there’s people who rely on us, so we’re out here every week,” said Red Schinedling, vendor representative of Viking Farms. “We are here for the community. There’s people who want to be here and they need to get their products and they come, so we are here for them.”
Because the vendors remained open some people were able to get some last-minute Christmas shopping done.
“I sold some things this morning to customers who are going to be cooking them this weekend,” said Jagge.
“People come here for those last-minute shopping gifts, stocking stuffers, things like that. This is a great place to come,” said Schinedling.
One customer, Skip Moore, said he was there Christmas shopping for his sweetheart.
“I looked down there at some jewelry behind me. There’s a guy that’s got some beautiful jewelry,” said Moore.
Both vendors and the customer said the farmers’ market has fostered community relationships.
“It’s nice to socialize with the folks, you can’t do that in the mall,” said Moore.
“We love knowing who our customers are and we love developing those relationships,” said Jagge.
