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On a cloudy Saturday following a morning rainstorm, Fred Yen walks around the Winchester Farmers Market on the town common, talking to vendors. That’s Fred’s job, and he does it well, according to those vendors.
Fred got the idea back in the 80s when he was traveling in Switzerland and went to the Lausanne farmers market. When he came home, he put the word out and 30 residents formed a committee to get it started.
“This is a great thing for the town!” was a common sentiment, according to Fred.
First he had to get town government’s approval and they were also enthusiastic. Fred thought the Chamber of Commerce would feel the same way, “but we hit a brick wall because some members thought it would affect parking and even take away customers.”
And the town manager warned the group that asking to have it on the town common would mean “you’d be in committee for years.”
But Fred persisted and met with the town manager, some chamber folks, the police chief and a few select board members, and finally the town manager gave the OK to have it on the common.
Eventually, “the chamber members realized that the increased foot traffic brought them more customers, including people from out of town,” he says.
The market not only has four farms, including Wright-Locke, but vendors who sell various products, from scones, to jewelry, to handmade soaps.
“The market functions as an incubator space,” Fred says. “It can be an entry point for home businesses who make baked goods and crafts because the amount of capital needed is lower than for a brick-and-mortar store.”
And they learn other aspects of business, such as how to do the selling and keep track of sales, and how to market themselves. Case in point, he says, “is Scones by Isobel. She’s doing great, she reaches out and hypes her products,” even offering free samples. [Full disclosure: your writer bought several orange scones.]
Winchester resident Isobel Magee sings Fred’s praises.
“He’s just amazing,” she says. “We just have to show up and everything’s all taken care of.”
“Fred has a vision that’s from his heart and he knows how to engage volunteers — he can see what bubbles forth in them,” says President of the Farmers Market Board Marianne DiBlasi.
Marianne was always at the market engaging with vendors because she’s “fascinated by their passion.”
Fred decided that was the “missing piece,” she adds.
And she points out that during COVID, Fred got some Winchester High School kids to volunteer — they were happy to have a reason to be outside with their friends. And he got volunteers from the Winchester School of Chinese Culture to help translate for Mandarin speakers who shop at the market.
In addition to the farmers market, Fred also helped start Grow Local for the Planet, which encourages residents to grow pollinator gardens and help build wildlife corridors. From that evolved Gardens for Good, where residents can either grow food for local food pantries or offer their garden space to others who want to do that.
And he’s a member of the Town Common, too.
Fatimus Lo and his wife Mailee Xiong have been at the market since its inception.
“Fred is so easy to work with, he does a great job and he’s helping the community — even getting Mandarin-speaking kids,” to translate, he says.
“Fred was a visionary,” says jewelry maker Wendy Jo New. “This was one of the first of the small town farmers markets. I love to come here and meet people in the community and friends who come to shop.”
