The Carbondale Farmers Market, a community event hosted every Saturday either rain or shine at the Westown Mall Parking Lot for 51 years, is now under new management. On March 20, Margaret Howell Kruse took the reins as the new market manager.

The market manager is a position that deals with the “day-to-day running of the market,” which includes keeping up with the different vendors, making sure everyone pays their dues and “checking the weather,” Kruse said.

“I want to try and allow as many new people to come set up and sell,” Kruse said. “Keeping it diverse, so customers keep wanting to come back to see what is new, and also giving all the different vendors opportunities to showcase their products.” 

Kruse is not only the market manager, but also a vendor herself. Her family runs the Bison Bluff Farms business that is based out of Cobden, Illinois. They sell bison meat products as well as “bone items such as skulls, and decorative jaw bones and vertebrae.” They have been vendors since 2018. While Kruse spoke with the Daily Egyptian, her daughter managed their stand.

Kruse said all market committee positions, like market manager and president, are filled and governed by vendors.

“This market has been run by vendors from the start, so it is not run by a city or anything else like that,” she said. “Everyone on our executive committee is a vendor.”

There are only 28 spaces open for seasonal vendors, and daily vendors cannot be voted to become seasonal until a slot is available. Seasonal vendors are guaranteed space for the market, while daily vendors get to come to the market if there are openings, according to the president and market manager.

President Kurt Sweitzer said he was excited for Kruse to take over as market manager.

“She is a young gal with a lot of new ideas and a lot of energy,” he said. 

Kruse said she was working to improve the market and its exposure.

“We updated our website thanks to AlterEgo Marketing, which is a local business,” she said. “We actually have an application now, so daily vendors can apply online.” 

There is an application Google form on their website, farmersmarketcarbondale.com, for any business interested in becoming a daily vendor. Vendors are to “grow/produce” their own products, “in accordance with the Jackson County Health Department,” according to the market website. There is also a $30 fee for the vendor’s 10 feet of  provided space, and the market “requires liability insurance” of $300,000 or greater.”

Kruse started in 2018 as a daily vendor, but in 2019, Bison Bluff Farms became a seasonal vendor. That same year, she was voted in to become the secretary of the Farmers Market. Kruse became the vice president in 2025 and has been operating the market’s Facebook page. 

Kruse said only some of the positions pay, and that the market manager is a paid position.

Sweitzer said the market’s 28 seasonal vendors vote, but the daily vendors do not get to vote.

Kruse said that typically, the seasonal vendors take up the parking lot space to only allow for six daily vendors, but there is more room this year.

“We have 28 seasonal vendors, but they are not all 20-foot, so we actually have nine spaces guaranteed for daily vendors this year,” Kruse said. 

To become a seasonal vendor, daily vendors need to have come to the market five times in a year, attend an annual market meeting, and present their business.

“Seasonal vendors get voted in because their product is seen as unique and integral to the market,” Kruse said.

Becky Bass is a seasonal vendor with Bass Farms. She sells fresh strawberries and hanging flower pots. Her business has been in the market since 1982.

“I’m thrilled to death with Margaret,” Bass said. “She is a really nice gal, and I think she will do a great job.”

Bass could only think of one change she would make to the market.

“We could use a porta-potty, cause you never know. I’m sure the business over there gets tired of us running in,” Bass said, gesturing to the Shell gas station behind her. 

Sylvan Christenson of Subculture Laboratories, a daily vendor that sells rare house plants, also had high praise for Kruse.

“She has been really helpful,” Christenson said. “When we started here last year, she helped us get used to the expectations and understand what it is like to be a vendor here. Seeing her move into the new role is great. She is super organized, and we are stoked to see her do the work.”

Staff Reporter Brayden Guy can be reached at [email protected]

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