By Carol P. Bartold

Nov. 25, 2015:  Saturday marked the end of the fifteenth season for the successful Bronxville Farmers' Market, and it also marked the end of an important era for the popular weekly market on Stone Place at Paxton Avenue.

Mary Liz Mulligan, whose research, campaigning, and hands-on work resulted in the market's opening in 2001, is retiring as market manager.

Mulligan credits a neighbor for sparking her interest in bringing a farmers' market to Bronxville. "For about a year, he kept saying I had to come up to Hastings to their farmers' market. I finally went and thought we can do this and we should do this. I could see this happening in the village."

Serving in her first year as executive director of the Bronxville Chamber of Commerce at the time, Mulligan brought the idea for a farmers' market to the group's board of directors. "They said, 'OK, do your homework.' I did and they loved the idea. That's how it started," she recalled. Mulligan worked very closely with current Mayor Mary Marvin, who, at the time, was a village trustee and liaison to the chamber of commerce.

With $1,500 in seed money from the village and the chamber of commerce, a banner, and the use of every possible free means to publicize the market, the Bronxville Farmers' Market opened in 2001. At the time, Mulligan noted, only four such markets were operating in Westchester County. "We started small," she said, "with maybe six vendors, and two of them were orchards. We started before the wave of farmers' markets took off in this area."

Mulligan left the chamber of commerce in 2005 but stayed on as manager of the farmers' market.

The mission of the market, Mulligan stated, is to help the farming industry in the Hudson Valley and New York State, as well as provide a service to the community and neighboring areas. "This is the livelihood of our vendors," she said.

Currently, the Bronxville Farmers' Market, one of the larger markets in the area, began its 2015 season with 38 vendors. "What I like most about our market," Mulligan said, "is we have some very special smaller vendors."

Mulligan has run a tight operation through the years to provide quality products for customers and also to give the vendors a reliable platform for selling their products. She has filled two encyclopedic binders with vendor agreements, certificates of insurance, a self-description from each vendor, a calendar of when they plan to attend the market, and copies of their certifications and licenses.

Prior to the market's annual opening, she visited farms to look at vendors' product lists and see where the farmers grow their produce.

Not only must all market offerings be produced in New York State, Mulligan noted, but vendors who sell baked or other processed goods must source at least one ingredient locally. "And they do," she said. "The vendors go to each other to source their ingredients."

In fifteen seasons, Mulligan has canceled only two markets, and those closures were due to hurricanes.

What will she miss the most about the market? "I'll miss the vendors the most," she said. "We have three vendors who have attended every market week since the first one."

"I still have things to do," Mulligan said. "I want to do a ten-year comprehensive report for the chamber of commerce board." She also planned to prepare one last batch of chili to serve the vendors for lunch after the market closed.

Pictured here:  Mary Liz Mulligan, who is stepping down as manager of the Bronxville Farmers' Market.

Photo by A. Warner