After many different insights from the community, the farmers market was finally brought back into Malden, selling a range of agriculture and food. Marcel Schwab, financial director of The Gallery@57, Katherine Cruikshank, owner of The Downtown Paw daycare, and Jennifer Kuhnberg, owner of OnStage Dance Company, all came together to plan and execute this market at the City Hall plaza every Wednesday.
With an abundance of requests from Maldonians, these market managers did not have issues getting ground permissions or advertising. This process also consisted of calling different small businesses and asking them to “take a chance” on this upcoming market, informed Kuhnberg. Luckily, Wednesdays aligned with many people’s schedules, and vendors were willing to sell their products in Malden.
This first year, the Malden Farmers Market strived to be community-driven by taking constant feedback from customers, involving local organizations, and hosting events in their weekly markets. “For example, we [invited] Malden Grows, the Malden Community Garden, [and] the Alzheimer’s Association. I think having other local things represented there helped to have a lot of community engagement,” said Kuhnberg.
All of these collaborations, in addition to all the regular vendors, contributed to Malden’s most successful farmers market yet, especially with the Mayor’s constant support and presence. “I am happy to say that the vendors I’ve spoken with are pleased with the numbers attending our farmers market, which is a positive sign for the future because we weren’t sure which way this was going to go based on what has happened in the past, but from all accounts, success,” voiced Mayor Gary Christenson.
One of these collaborations included Welcoming Week, which was organized by Elena Martinez, Malden’s Language Access Coordinator. Welcoming Week is a week-long national celebration of various heritages, cultures, and languages.
In Malden’s second year of celebrating this holiday, Mayor Christenson began by reading its proclamation in English. He was then followed by Superintendent Dr. Sippel, who read the proclamation in both Portuguese and Spanish, who then passed the microphone to Egra Pierrette, Malden Catholic Dean of Community, who read the proclamation in Haitian Creole. The microphone was then given to Ana Tse, who read in Cantonese, and finally followed by Mei Hung, Executive Director of the Chinese Culture Connections, who read the proclamation in Mandarin.
There are over 60 different spoken languages in Malden, and Martinez believed that having this proclamation read in multiple languages would help people from different backgrounds feel welcomed. “I saw some people smiling and nodding their heads in acknowledgement or surprise that the Superintendent was speaking in two languages,” Martinez continued.
“I like the whole concept of welcoming everybody. I’m very into unity through diversity, which is bringing people of different backgrounds together and celebrating the diversity of that mix. Malden is that mix, Malden’s got the mix,” shared David Weigert, an audience member of the Welcoming Week celebration.
Overall, the farmers market has been successful in further bringing the community together. However, Mayor Christenson worries about where its funding would come from in the following year. This year, the market was funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a block grant the city received during Joe Biden’s presidency, which is now running low.
With the abundance of support from the community this year, Mayor Christenson hopes that this funding issue will be resolved and that the farmers market will continue to make its mark on Malden.
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