Southern Ute Economic Development recently launched the Píinu Núuchi Farmers Market and Outdoor Biz Lab, which debuted, Friday, July 26 right outside of the Eddie Box Jr. Media Center. The market serves as a small business incubator, providing local agriculture producers, artisans, and other entrepreneurs with an accessible marketplace and business support through various workshops hosted during the market. The market is held weekly from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is set to take place every Friday up until Friday, Oct. 11.
Economic Development Manager Colton Black said that the idea for the market came about after receiving grant funding from Fort Lewis College. The department provided a space for vendors to launch or continue their small business and access an outdoor business lab component to develop more business strategies.
During week two of the market event, the Outdoor Biz Lab was hosted by CEO & founder of GeekPack, Julia Taylor and GeekPack Partners Program Manager, Halley Moore providing a presentation and a demonstration on email marketing, helping business owners and community members to learn how to generate leads and how they can use that to increase their business.
“I started [GeekPack] back in 2018 and it was all based on my own personal experience, I’m a former military spouse and we moved around a lot, so I taught myself tech skills so that I could start my own business and grow from anywhere,” Taylor said. “Our background is teaching women and other underrepresented communities tech skills, primarily entrepreneurs and small business owners so they can use tech to get ahead–we love working with rural communities and empowering small business owners to scale using the internet, nothing can stop you when utilizing the internet and digital marketing.”
Local vendors Anthony Box and Sherri Foster took time to share information about their small businesses and talk about how this new market can benefit other entrepreneurs and the community. Box is a local artist and in cooperation with Edward Box III and Monique Padro they create resin jewelry, notebooks, and other miscellaneous items under the name “AME Creates.” “I was looking to start doing vendor spaces and I saw the information for [Píinu Núuchi Farmers Market and Outdoor Biz Lab] and that interested me in applying,” Box said. “Having a farmer’s market in Ignacio is a really good thing–we have a lot of farmers, craft people, and other small entrepreneurs that need a place to sell, this market is a really good opportunity for them to get their wares out there.”
Sherri Foster is a veteran and is one half of Freedom’s Fire, a local coffee roasting and ranching business, veteran owned, and family operated. This multigenerational family business takes pride in uniting people over coffee, supporting and giving back to the community all while sharing veteran and homestead experiences with everyone they meet. “We really want to see local markets thrive–we are trying to help bring markets back and we are using coffee to do that,” Foster said. “This market provides a platform for people to experiment, to try [selling], and give it their best.”
“Everything you see on this table started as a homemade Christmas gift; [Brent Foster] has roasted his own coffee for several years – we asked ourselves, ‘well what could we do as a business? What skill do we have that is marketable?’ Coffee never came up, yet he was roasting it all the time,” Foster said. “One year we gave [coffee] away for Christmas and people asked for more–this business was right under our noses the whole time, now we are coffee roasting yak wranglers making creature comforts. We enjoy the simple things in life and all our products are simple things that we made to enjoy ourselves, and now we share them with others.”
Currently there are 12 active vendors who sell at the Píinu Núuchi Farmers Market and Outdoor Biz Lab and there are five booth spaces available. The market is open to anyone who would like to sell their products and there are discounts available for Tribal members, first descendants, and members of other Ute tribes. Booth spaces are 12 feet by 10 feet, giving vendors plenty of space for canopies and tables. Applications to vend at the Píinu Núuchi Farmers Market and Outdoor Biz Lab can be found online at https://www.southernute-nsn.gov/eco-dev/ and additional information can be found on the “Píinu Núuchi Farmers Market” Facebook page.
“Our hope is to incubate a couple of businesses that turn into full time businesses here in the community, we’re really trying to grow the number of businesses and services offered here to help grow the economy,” Economic Development Manager, Colton Black said. “We would love to see folks come out and participate again, we’re looking for those fresh produce vendors to come out and participate–the Economic Development department hopes this market will continue to grow in the community and we are taking that initial first step.”
“My advice to other vendors is to show up, we need a market in Ignacio,” Foster said. “I have heard lots of people say we need one, so we must be the change–I would really like to see more vendors come this direction. Everybody must make a living, right? So we prefer to come to local markets to do that.”