Every business that is there is a small business that's trying to survive.
No Illinois, no Michigan. Nope. This is all Indiana. I'm fired up.
Our farmers market. We are an incubator for small businesses across Indiana.
How do you pick who gets to be a vendor at the Caramel Farmers Market from South Bin to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get In, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Before we get into today's episode, I am joined in studio by Nicole Pence Becker to give us an update on some of the cool things that Pence Media Group has been up to. Nicole, what do you got going on?
We got a lot going on, but it is summer in Indiana, which means Indiana State Fair, and one of our clients is the American Dairy Association of Indiana. So, they represent obviously all the farmers that are out there doing the most to create dairy products and bring them to our homes. And if you ever go to the Indiana State Fair, you always have to go to the dairy bar. That's where you get the milkshakes and the grilled cheese and everything else. And it's so fabulous and we love working there.
Milkshake of the year. Key lime pie.
Key lime pie. And I've tried it. It is delicious.
The state fair runs from August 1st through August 17th. You've got to stop by the dairy bar, get some key lime pie, a grilled cheese. I may be even out there serving up some milk chips. You never know. And you got to hit the rodeo. I always say go to the rodeo, go to the dairy bar. What else do you need? uh ride the rides, I mean everything.
Now, let's get back into the episode. Today, I'm joined by Susan Bach and Randy Roger, two of the passionate leaders behind the Caramel Farmers Market. Now, Susan is the market manager, and she has been involved for over a decade, and she brings a wealth of experience in fostering community connections, while Randy is our newsletter editor for the Caramel Farmers Market. Both are part of the volunteer corps that ensures that everything runs smoothly week after week. The Caramel Farmers Market's mission is to provide their community with the freshest and healthiest food that Indiana has to offer while providing a venue for small businesses to grow and prosper. I'm really excited to get into this one.
We're going to talk about the 27year history of the Caramel Farmers Market. That is a tongue twister. We're going to talk about the the people that volunteer their time to make this thing come to life and all of these small businesses that are being impacted by participating in the car caramel farmers market. That's gonna get me. Uh, ladies, welcome to Get In.
Thank you.
I am super excited for this one. I I ventured to the Car Caramel Farmers Market for the Now, it's just going to be the whole episode. I'm just going to be messing it up. I ventured there for the first time last year. Two of my great friends moved up to Midtown Carmel. And they're like, "You have to come up for the farmers market." And I'm like,
"I don't know." And I I but they convinced me and I went and my girlfriend Lauren, she loves she's like, "We have to go to the farmers market and get the flowers and the blah blah blah." And so we went, it's a it's an experience. There's like live music. There's so so so many good things to eat, to take home. It's like I came out of there and I was like, "Oh my gosh, this I it opened my eyes to what I thought farmers markets were and what the caramel farmers market is." Uh so I'm super excited. Before we get into like all the amazing crazy cool things that are happening today in that new What's that area called right outside there?
Carter. Carter Green.
Yes. There. Right. All that the fun space there. Was it always there? Where does this whole journey start? Susan, I know you are the ex the resident expert here.
Do you want me to start back from when the Caramel Mar farmers market opened?
Yeah.
Okay. 1999 they became incorporated. And for from 1999 until 2010, the farmers market was in a parking lot at what was called the the city center um right outside the government building. And there were about 20 vendors there.
And that's like what I feel farmers markets like in my head are, you know, it's like which I think that's like the old school way that they started, right? It's like farmer comes in, you know, the back of his truck sells sweet corn or sells tomatoes or sells whatever, right? Um, and it's funny because when I think of farmers, I don't like Caramel is probably maybe the last place in the city or in the state of Indiana that I think of. So, but this was in in 1999. So, these farmers were coming from like surrounding areas. The mayor at the time, who was Jim Brainard and was a relatively new mayor at that time, decided that Carmel needed a farmers market. And so they sought different farmers to come to the market and some of the people or some of the vendors were not farmers, but rather people who produced um other products, flower vendors as well like that.
Anyway, so they were at that location until 2010. During that time period, the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, where the Palladium is, was being built. So that's on one side of the green. On the other side of the green are two theaters. And the middle of that, which was called Center Green, has now been renamed Carter Green, was specifically designed and built for our farmers market. And if you've ever been to the Palladium or in that vicinity, there is a horseshoe. So, you enter from the south, you exit from the north, and there are 64 vendor booth spaces that are 20 ft wide, and there's a ballard at the back of every one of those booth spaces that has electricity. So, not only do we have exactly um the same size of a booth space for every vendor, every vendor has access to electricity.
And is that not is that not a common thing across all farmers? Okay. So like only the like the pristine or the like
from my perspective most farmers markets are held in parking lots so you wouldn't have access to electricity but this was designed specifically
yeah for the market which is so cool I mean and it's cool I know that we did talk it is operated outside of the city like it's two separate entities you like rent the space from the city u but like back in the day like to build something that was uh engineered to host a farmers market that's pretty cool uh merging of of uh I don't know entities there.
Exactly. I you know I didn't live in Carmel at the time. I still lived in Cincinnati, but nevertheless,
we will not hold that against you.
Thank you. I was never a Buckeye. I was a Hoosier born and bred. The city of Carmel obviously was heavily involved in the in the construction of that.
So you moved to Indiana in the in 2004 2005. Is that what you said? 10.
2010.
Okay. And then how quickly did you get involved with the farmers market?
By January of 11 when the palladium opened, I started volunteering with the started working with the farmers market and the summer of 2011 was my first summer to volunteer.
Okay. And so how long did you volunteer before you like got really ingrained into everything?
I would say probably three or four years. Then I started working with the vendors and then it just evolved to the point by 2017 I was running the winter market. We have a winter market as well as a summer market and I've run that ever since and that's I I just have become more and more involved.
What got you so fired up about uh being involved with the farmers market?
I I wanted a volunteer activity. Some of my friends introduced me to the farmers market and said this would be a great place for you to work. I have great organizational skills. And so,
and she has a whole like binder here on the table, like, yes, I can definitely tell you have great organizational skills.
And so, yeah, it it was uh it was a win-win. And I I really do believe, you know, we're there for two reasons. Number one is to bring the freshest and best to our guests that come to the market, but even more importantly is to support small businesses because every vendor, every business that is there is a small business that's trying to survive.
Yeah. Well, when did you take over like as the what's the word? Market manager.
Market.
Two years ago.
Okay. Two years ago. But you were still working through out COVID, right? like that was like you were like trying to get an ownership not ownership role but like a responsibility role.
Typ typically our summer market is open May through September and we have to close at the end of September so that the city can set up Chris Krenel Mart because that's where the summer market is located where the Christmas market is. Um then we go inside middle of October until the end of March for our winter market. The COVID year we I I mean our Yeah. Oh, it was cold. Our vendors, our vendors were devastated because as you remember in that March it was like okay everything has to shut down. You know grocery stores shut down. So it was decided among our board that we couldn't do that to our community and we couldn't do that to our vendors. We moved our winter market outside and it was cold but at least they had they had a a place where they could sell their product.
Yeah. Wow. And then we moved to um we moved to Center Green at the beginning of April. And yet it was still cold, but we were outside and we our market runs rain or shine.
The only time we close is if there's lightning within 5 miles and then we reopen as soon as the storm passes.
Okay. Well, I know that CO was around the time that Randy you got plugged into the farmers market. What what brought you into this or
we raised our children there. So we moved to Carmel in 2005 and we had two young daughters then. Uh they were three and three and six and just like everybody else and probably what you saw we would bring our children there on Saturday and so every year
there is no shortage of children there.
There is no shortage of children there and even when my children would go to summer camp in the summer they would come home and say we want to go back to the market and they had their favorite vendors. And so the market has always been a part of me raising my family in Caramel. So fast forward,
was it even this 2005? Was it still in the area that it is now?
It's where Susan was saying it was back in the parking lot. Yeah.
Oh, so it was back in the parking lot. Yeah.
Okay. So wait, when did it get to the current space?
2010. That's because the palladium opened in January of 11.
Ah, okay. I'm following cuz I'm like now it's in this like amazing spot. I didn't know. Back in the day. So you you remember the old the gritty caramel farmers market.
I remember all of it and I've known all of these vendors.
We've been you know we knew where all the vendors were and my girls just like the kids today they have favorite vendors that they have to see when they went every Saturday.
Yeah.
So we fast forward to 2020 and like a bulk of people I had lost my job. I was at home like everybody else and my husband said you need to find something to do. And so I said, "Okay, how do I volunteer there? They're outside. It's not in front of a computer and I can get out of my house." And so I approached Susan and I approached the team and said, "How do I volunteer?" And at the time, I don't know that we were as organized with our volunteer efforts as I think we are today.
So I just came on and said, "Okay." And started learning how to do different jobs at the market. I had a a step up from everybody else because I knew where all the vendors were. I knew the vendors because I knew their products. I had been shopping there for the better part of a decade or more. And so it was easy for me to say, "Oh, you need honey? Go see blah blah blah. You need meat. Here's where I get my meat." And so I genuinely believed in what I was telling people. And then we've been very fortunate over the past couple of years to have somebody step up and actually have an onboarding program for our new volunteers. And I think that's really propelled us forward in in how organized we appear and then bringing in, I would say, a younger demographic to our volunteer efforts.
Yeah. How many volunteers and staff does it take to put on the Caramel Farmers Market?
Not as many as you think. In the summer we need about 25 25 26 people because
per day like per Saturday.
Per Saturday. Yes. We get there at 6 am and set
actually some of you get there at 5:45.
Yeah. Yeah. And we set up the, you know, our portion of the market. We put out tables and chairs and we set up tents, etc. And then the market runs from 8 until 11:30. And once 11:30 hits, then it's time to tear it all down and put it all in
or something.
There it is. It's a cowbell.
Yes. Someone rings the cowbell. That's right. Susan rings the cowbell
start and finish.
And so it's 20 to 25 people on game day every Saturday morning that that completely volunteer
completely
to wake up to go set up this farmers market.
I I get up at 4:45 every Saturday morning in the summer
just because you love your community. Like what's what drives what drives you to want to be part of this?
I I you know I I'm invested in those vendors. I'm invested in making that the best it possibly can be. And you know, you know, you got to be there and you got to connect with people and you know, it's like Randy said, I know every one of those vendors and I maybe know some of them better than I should, but nevertheless, they're um yeah, I it's just it's in my soul.
Uh my husband is a serial entrepreneur, I like to say, and for us, it's the idea that we are starting small businesses. We give them that backbone. What? What? How hard is it to do a small business? Nate, I think you know better than anybody.
It's so easy. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's so easy.
And so what we provide is that space for them
to be successful and do what they do best because doing the business part of it is not what they do best. They know their product, whether it's raising it or cooking it or creating a product out of it, that's what they do best. And it's not electricity and it's not setting up tents, right? And so we provide I like to say the umbrella or the skeleton for all of these small businesses so that they can do grow their business.
Yeah. I mean a big piece of it is like eyeballs marketing. The biggest constraint of a lot of small business is getting new eyeballs on their product to see it. And you you were saying earlier you're going to have between four and 8,000 people every Saturday. every Saturday I can promise you at a minimum 4,00 to 4500 on the early weekends and by 11 by the end of July I can promise you anywhere between 7 and 8,000 sets of eyeballs. Name me another brick and mortar that in a three-hour period can have that many people walking in their store. And it's pretty rare that you can do that in central Indiana.
And and let's talk Indiana. What brings 7 to 8,000 people to the market the end of June all through July? Randy
corn. It is corn. Susan.
Oh, corn. People will line up forever.
7:30 in the morning.
Corn. Alan Beard who owns my dad's sweet corn. It's right up in Typton. Oh. Oh my gosh. People have already started coming to the committee tent asking us when the corn's coming in. A lady just this past week said, "But there's corn at Meyer." I said, "That's not Indiana corn." And we mandate every person that sells any product at our market, it has to be Indiana grown or produced.
Oh, wow.
Nothing can come. Ohio, Indiana or Illinois.
Get them out of here. Nothing. Nope. Just
Ohio. No Illinois. No Michigan. Nope. This is all Indiana. I'm fired up. Let's go. So, that takes us to an extra. There are a few questions that I want to ask. Sure. So, you're talking about my dad's sweet corn and tip. How do you pick who gets to be a vendor at the Caramel Farmers Market?
A person who wants to become a vendor at the market goes to our website caramel farmersmarket.com and across the top there's a get involved tab. Pull down on that and it says become a vendor and there's a page that tells the requirements of becoming a vendor.
What are the requirements?
The requirements are that you have to have Indiana grown or produced food or a product. You know that that's basically it. But anyway,
commercial kitchen.
Yeah. And if you produce a product, you have to use a commercial kitchen. We do not allow any homebased vendors.
Oh, which that's probably that's probably a difference versus like the like
grandma grandma bacon pies at XYZ random
because unfortunately we can't guarantee food safety and security with grandma's kitchen because we don't know what goes in and out of grandma's kitchen. So they have to use a county certified kitchen to produce their product. And we do vendor visits. Do they go check out the the health inspector is coming to town?
Well, the health inspector comes to our market a couple of times a summer, but
yeah,
every every person who uses a commercial kitchen has to send to me by the 10th of every month an invoice from their commercial kitchen for the previous month. And it has to detail the days they were there, the hours they were there, how much they paid for their commercial kitchen.
Because a lot a lot of them probably use like they don't have their own. It's like a shared space, right? shared space. Exactly.
Okay. So, if you're like Well, there's food trucks there, right? Is it not food trucks?
We don't allow food trucks.
Trailers. I was going to say cuz I was like I know I got an egg roll something or other last year out of one.
So, that would be like a commercial kitchen, right? Like the or
No,
no, no. Because
those egg rolls had to be prepared in a commercial kitchen and then they're fried on site.
Wow. Wow.
The commercial a commercial kitchen has to be certified by the county health department.
And where did you guys get to that point? Has that always been a thing?
That's always been
really
That was in place when I joined the market in 2010.
Wow. Okay. I'm like looking through this because it's pretty cheap if you can like $200 to $400 for a season. Like
that's it's gone up due to due to our expand our you know costs. It's $500 for a boot space for the entire summer. Oh, mo most vendors make that in the first hour of the first day.
The first hour of the first Well, you're talking about the sweet corn vendor. Well, so that you don't need a commercial kitchen for sweet corn, right?
No, no, no, no. Only only products.
So, if you're like cooking food. So, like what about the waffles? I feel like the waffles are prepared right there.
She has Well, there are an awful lot of vendors at our at our market that own their own commercial kitchen because they also have a brick and mortar. Like Cindy Hawkins owns Circle City Suites, which is down at the AMP. And so, she prepares her food there and brings it to the market. If you own your own kitchen, you don't have to provide me with that proof because you've already got it.
But a smaller business uses shared space until they grow.
Exactly.
How do you become the official sweet corn vendor? And how many sweet corn vendors do you have? One.
Just one. One.
So like these people are all Oh my.
I will say that there there are other produce vendors that bring some sweet corn, but that's all sells is sweet corn.
And like how did he how did Allan get plugged in in the first place? He's been there for 26 of the 27 years.
Oh, so he he can tell you the story. I He was He was selling sweet corn in
Was he selling his dad sweet corn?
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. He was selling it in a parking lot somewhere and it was against Caramel Code where he was selling it. And so one of our councilmen told him that he could come to the market, but he couldn't sell it in that parking lot. So
that's like so like, "Yeah, you can't sell that corn here, buddy. But if you you pay us $200 a summer, we'll let you sell it out at the farmers market." And now he's proud. I can't even imagine. Like,
well, he's such a an institution in Caramel that a couple of years ago for the Fourth of July caramel fest parade, we gave corn out.
We went down the street during the parade and handed out ears of corn and people were running up to get free ears of corn off the back of his tractor.
That's the most Indiana thing. And I love it.
Oh yeah.
Uh, incredible. Um, but you do limit the amount like you couldn't just have 20 sweet corn vendors.
So like if someone applies to be a vendor, what like classifications or like niche or like how many bakers and how many cookie makers and how many candle No, no candlestick makers.
No candlestick makers. every every person that applies or fills out an application to become a vendor, I get all of those applications and I go through them and I I'm the first eyeballs to look at it and determine this is a product we need. This is not a product we need. Obviously, we limit the We have two coffee vendors. We have two honey vendors.
Who are the coffee vendors?
The coffee vendors are Mission Coffee, Peter Beering, and Any Coffee Roasters. Which one does the like delicious chocolaty coffee goodness?
You know, Nate, I'm not a coffee drinker, so I couldn't begin to tell you. I don't know, Randy.
Indie Coffee Roasters is just coffee. They they they literally are just the coffee and that is a fabulous product.
Mission coffee is the one that you on the on the green that does the different mixins and the flavors and the creamies. Yeah, it's like it's not a very big cup, but like it's a little like chocolatey milkshake coffee thing. It was
Peter would appreciate that.
I like I like I uh put my straw in and I like looked up and all of a sudden half my coffee was gone and I was like had a little bit. It was so good. Oh my gosh, it was phenomenal. Next time you come out, you'll notice that Susan strategically places when we have multiple vendors with the same type of product, she strategically places them on different sides of the green. So you you don't have the same type of vendor next to each other competing. So when somebody comes up to us at the information tent and would say, "Where can I get a cup of coffee?" I can point in either direction so that they can get coffee no matter which side of the green they're on.
Nice. Okay. Okay. So, you have two car. Are there other other things you have two of?
Oh, sure. We have two honey vendors.
One's from Martinsville and one's from Sheridan. So, if you
North South rivalry there.
Well, you know, some people are of the belief that the closer the honey is, you know, comes from, then the better the health benefits are for you.
Oh, the less time that it has to like travel or
I the type of the type of pollen and the type of flowers. So it so your allergies come from the what's in the air. So
he's looking at us like we're crazy. Come talk to a honey vendor. They can explain all of this to you.
So two honey vendors.
Okay.
I would have to count them up. But I believe we have seven produce vendors.
Okay. That's like any sort of Indiana grown produce.
Yeah. Um we have one that's a complete fruit vendor. That's all he sells is fruit. But once again, other vendors sell fruit.
Two types of popcorn.
Yep. two different kinds of popcorn. Um, we have multiple multiple pies and sweet vendors. Uh, we probably have any kind of meat that you're looking for. We have pork, beef, chicken, wigu, bison, lamb.
Yeah. Who? There's one up at the I don't know the one corner that is just like a legit meat vendor.
Farms. He's also a large animal vet.
No way.
Yeah, he is. If I spend time too much time in that corner, it's definitely dangerous for my checkbook, right? Like, oh, I I need some like bison and some Wagu. Like, it's awesome. It's so cool.
But when you taste the difference, I always I tell people I myself had never had the different kinds of meat and I started eating Wagu beef and the difference in the You can taste the difference in the meat.
Oh, yeah.
And slice it with a butter knife is what tell people.
I love that. And you don't you don't even have to go with a steak. I mean, they have Wu burgers. They have Wu hot dogs. So, you know, people that are on a limited and bacon. Oh, yeah.
Tons of different vendors. But you do limit the competition. You don't want to have too many of this that the other thing. What are you missing right now? Like, what does the caramel farmers market need more of?
You know, that that's a tough question that I always ask the people on the board, the other volunteers. It's like, what product do you want and I will find it? And I believe this year you did uh you came back with a kombucha vendor.
Oh yeah, we needed kombucha.
Well, there's a great story of why you need a kombucha vendor.
Correct. So So what what is that story?
I'm Okay. Mark Lefay who owns Old Major. Anyone's famil is that like the honey or the maple bacon?
Oh yes, they have Maple Bacon. Yeah. Anyway, several years ago, Mark told us that there was a brand new business in town that we needed to check out called, I believe at that time it was Circle City Kombucha. Anyway, um, three of us went to check out their business and they were in what appeared to be like a warehouse down in Irvington. They had these giant tubs, you know, I had no idea.
This is the Circle City Industrial Complex, right? Like kind of
I have no idea. I I'm not familiar with that vicinity because I I didn't grow up here. But um yeah, I mean I had no idea what kombucha was. I'd never even heard of it. But anyway, we decided, yeah, we'll give them a try. They lasted our market one year because after one year they were so their business just exploded. So they are one of our success stories.
Yeah. And you have other success stories like that, right? Smoking Goose.
Smoking Goose was with us one year too.
Okay. What's Smoking Goose? I don't Smoking Goose is um Have you ever heard of Goose the Market?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that's Smoking Goose.
Oh, they were up at the Caramel Farmers Market one year.
And then um what? Urban Ladle.
Urban Ladle. Yeah. Made soups and you know they they just their business explos
and they kind of just they graduate out of the
They do. I mean it's a sad sad day when I get the phone call or get the email. It's like Susan we're leaving the market. It's like what do you mean you're leaving the market? is like, "Yeah, we just have too much business."
Yeah.
I I don't know.
It's cool because it gives opportunity for somebody else,
right? I don't know if you're familiar with this. We had last two summers ago, we had a a young woman from Cooko who had a vegan bakery and cafe in Cooko. And so she sold vegan baked goods, you know, which were very popular. And she sent me
and some savory food. She had some great soups.
Okay. Okay. Just all kinds of vegan foods.
What was it called?
Uh it was Lucky Lemon Bakery. Lucky Lemon Lemon
Lemon Bakery, right? And she sent me an email one day last June and said, "Susan, I have to drop out of the market. I have been offered my perfect job."
Dream job. My perfect job. And she said, "I can't tell you anything about it yet, but I will soon." I said, "Okay." So, yeah, what's going on?
Just you just wait. So anyway, she um about a month passed by and she came to the market and she um she said to me, she said, "I can tell you now she is now one of the private chefs for Jim Ers." And the reason that she got now wait a minute, the reason that she got that job was because one of the other private chefs for Jim Ersce came to our market, bought the vegan food, took it back. They liked the vegan food so well so much. One of their private chefs left, they hired Heather in to be their new private chef.
You heard it here first. If you become a vendor at the Caramel Farmers Market, your life could change and you could be a celebrity executive chef.
Is that Is that not unbelievable?
Awesome. Well, that is like like that makes sense because if you think about the clientele of the people who go to the caramel farmers market, they are probably, you know, business people or like Jim Ursa's private chef or like like these cool different interesting people like
it's people in the community
that make stuff happen like a and if you get this opportunity to put your resume together, oh my gosh, like imagine that. Like you never you have no idea who's going to come through there and try your food.
None at all. I bump.
That's wild.
My favorite is when I bump into a Colts player to be honest with you. That happens every time.
You just bump into these massive human beings. They're just like,
you know, when they're coming down the street.
Yeah. Right. Oh my gosh, that's so cool. Um, I do want to talk a little bit more about vendors and then I'll talk we'll round out the episode by talking about the guest experience. Okay,
so when we're talking vendors, what's the furthest distance a vendor travels to come to the Caramel Farmers Market?
Well, the two furthest are two Amish vendors. One lives in Breamman, which is just on the south side of South Bend. And the other Amish farmer comes from Clay City, which is down near Teroot. Um, and I take that back. We have a a peach vendor that's down in Washington, Indiana, which is almost to Evansville.
That's not close. Okay, first off, you got to shout out Breamman. That's uh my buddy Andrew is an avid listener. He will love that. There's a What do they What does the Breamman vendor sell?
Um, produce.
Produce. There's a produce vendor from Breman. Andrew, you're going to love that. So, we have Breamman, we have Clay City, and we have Washington.
Washington, Indiana.
How long have they been coming to the market?
Um, the the two Amish vendors have been with us for a number of years. The Washington, the peach vendor is relatively new within the last two or three years.
That is a a commitment to their business
to drive. Yeah.
But we provide the audience. going back to incubating small businesses, where are they going to find that sheer number of people on a recurring basis in their town?
And it's all year long or do they get to like sign up for summer or winter?
They they can be at either market. Most of the I would say during the summer we have well we've got about 80 81 82 vendors. During the winter we usually top out about 60 because there are a number of people that either want to take a break or they don't have product during during the winter.
It's like uh That is a commitment because they can't miss a Saturday.
Periodically they do, especially in the winter if the weather is terrible. You know, I'll get phone calls at, you know, 5:00 in the morning that they're not going to be there. But, um,
and some of our I think some in this in the late latter half of the summer, our attendance goes down, football games are starting, school goes back and festival season. So, we have a lot of the vendors especially that do prepared foods who
can sometimes see more eyeballs at during festival season. Well, and the flower vendors too, you know that if you run out of product, you get her out and you don't come to the market.
Oh, yeah. It's true. I just like imagining like the commitment to your business. So, you you show up at the Caramel Farmers Market, you could be supporting a small town farmer from Breamman, Indiana or a peach vendor from Washington who woke up at probably 3:30, 3:00 in the morning to drive the two hours to get to the market and does that every single Saturday.
Yeah.
All summer long. So, we get asked a lot, Nate, why do you close so early? Because the folks that are local and close to the Caramels green thinking that
they they come down and they get frustrated because they roll out of bed at 11, 10:30 or 11:00. They want to get breakfast and we tell them, "Hey, just so you know, we're closing at 11:30 and they get very frustrated because they don't realize that farmer has been up since 3:30 in the morning packing their vans, driving down, setting up. So for that farmer, it's an 8 to 10 hour day so that they can actually serve for three and a half hours.
Yeah. I mean, they uh you you'll shut it down. Like there'll be
hardcore
a ton of people still there. Like there was still live music going. Oh yeah, we'll get to that at the end.
That's my job.
There was still live music. Like the vendors were all had lines and all of a sudden it's just like, "Nope, it's over." And I'm like, "What do you mean?" Like
as as long as you were in line, you can purchase.
Oh, okay.
Yes.
Yeah. I'm the one who though goes and throws you out of the chairs and says, "We want to go home. It's August and it's hot."
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They're giving teen drivers real hands-on driving experience. Stuff that actually matters once they're out there on their own. And they're doing it big. Indie car drivers like Tony Cananan, Connor Daly, Joseph Newgart are all going to be there signing autographs. It's a great mix of safety, learning, and fun for the whole family. If you're anywhere near Indie and have a teen behind the wheel, this is something you should check out.
Hit up rule the roadind indiana. com for all the details and give Alliance Highway Safety a follow on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the loop. We'll see you at rule the road indie at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Now, let's get back into the episode. For this, we have three vendors from all across the state. Who's the longest longest standing vendor?
Two. We have two vendors that have been with us since the market's inception, and that's um Phelps Family Farm. They sell beef, chicken, pork, and eggs. And they are in Loga. I I mean, yeah, these these are towns even though I grew up.
How do they like how did they 27 years ago? How'd they find a farm in Loga?
I have no idea. I wasn't a part of the market then. Um, and the other is the honey vendor from Martinsville. It's Hunter Honey Farm. And their address, I think this is adorable. I can't remember the number, but they're on Honey Lane in Martinsville, Indiana. And I'll tell you what makes their product special is they still sell the honey sticks, all the flavored honey sticks for 25 cents. Yeah.
So you can bring your your I would bring my daughters there, him, my daughter's a quarter and they could go up and pick from 12 flavors of honey.
That's So they've been there all 27 years. The two of them.
Who are the who are the newest? Do we know any new vendors coming in this year?
Um Oh, we have a number of new vendors. We've got
our meat vendor.
Yeah, we have a meat vendor. Do you know what meat is?
Is that sweet wine?
Honey Honey wine. They are from Gosport which is down near Bloomington.
I mean you're all over the like
but that's why
we want to make sure that people understand you started the segment Nate saying
caramel people don't need to go up to car. We want you to understand our farmers market.
We are an incubator for small businesses across Indiana. It just happens to be in Caramel because of the density of population.
Like yeah, you're talking Gasport, Loga, Washington.
I mean, I I could go down the list and tell you where these people. They're from all over.
Yeah. I was going to say, how many new vendors did you bring in for 2025?
10 12.
I thought the number was 13. Wow. Yeah. Well, a lot of them started at the winter market and then decided, yeah, they wanted to be, you know, we've got Who's Your Minis with these people make little bitty donuts on site and put different toppings on them. Um, we have a young lady that makes the most fabulous baked goods you could ever imagine. Her name's A Martin and her company is with Wonder um, baked goods.
We found our kombucha vendor this year.
Yeah. Well, that's right. We Yeah, we found a kombucha vendor in Franklin.
Who's the new ba?
Crossroads Kombucha and they are selling kombucha
like crazy.
Like Yeah, like crazy.
What's the newest vendor that like is maybe the most unique or do you like take any risks? I mean, not risk, but like, oh, we're going to bring in something that's a little bit I mean, mead's pretty different.
I That's what I was going to say. I would say that mead is definitely the most unique because most people don't know what meat is.
No, I actually It's funny. I literally saw a metery this past weekend and I had to like do the research of like how it's fermented honey and is that like that like how it's made. That's exactly what it is. Um, and it gets you to like an alcoholic beverage. Are there are there like beer vendors at the
We had a a gentleman that was going to sell beer, but he couldn't get the proper licensing.
Oh, yeah.
So, he's still working on that.
And it's like 8 to 11:30. It's a little bit little bit
You'd be surprised.
Years ago, and I want to say this is maybe five, six, seven years ago, we had a bourbon vendor um from South Bend.
Who was it?
Oh, his name's Charlie Florence.
That just popped into my head. It's It's uh I can't remember. It's like South Bin. I can't remember the name of the company. Anyway, four of us went up there, sampled this product obviously, and it's like, "Yeah, this is going to do well." Comes to the market, first market of the season, pops up his tent. It's Indiana whiskey maybe is the name of his company. Anyway, he's doing samples and
I was there that day in the morning. Unfortunately, there was some state senator, and I have no idea who it was, from Lafayette that was very much deposed to them selling spirits at a farmers market and they shut him down. He was there one week.
I happened to be there that one week because I remember
Indiana Whiskey. That's his name. Charlie Florence.
Charlie.
Yeah. Now, we sell we sell spirits at the state fair. So, I think we probably
I think we're I think we're past that point now. Um, yeah, that that would be super cool. And I'm sure cuz that's also like a new form of like craft artisan distillery type thing, you know, like grain to glass. I know like our friends at Hard Truth and a bunch of other distilleries get the corn
and the all the grains that uh produce their whiskey from right here in Indiana and then it ends up, you know, filling your glass, which is pretty cool. Is there like a vendor that you guys are still looking for? Like is there anything that Oh, you know, I wish we really had a blank. We have tried unsuccessfully, believe it or not, for two years now running to bring seafood to Carmel, Indiana, which is hard to do considering.
So two years ago, we found a seafood vendor who used to come up on the weekends from Mobile, Alabama, so the Gulf, and would bring fresh seafood to Caramel. Uh, and we
This person would drive
drive a trailer. They had a family member in Elizabeth Town, Kentucky who owned a restaurant and they came to Elizabeth Town, processed everything and then drove it up here.
Did we just sell it in Caramel? Like
he brought his trailer and was
to the farmers market.
Uhhuh.
You wait what?
What sold it? We did
and he and he was pretty popular. I mean, so crab cakes and and all seafood. And yes, that's not grown in Indiana, but it's something that's a product that was very popular. And so it's like, okay, we'll make an exception. And it's it's part of our mission.
And I mean, if they're going to drive it across the country, like,
oh, yeah, it was fresh.
We might make an exception for that, right? And then uh knowing the popularity and knowing that our market wanted to have some kind of fresh fish option, which is hard to do in Indiana, frankly, uh we found Aquablanca down in Indianapolis, Indiana.
And Aquablanca Aqua
Aqua Aua
AL
Aqua Auablanca.
They grow shrimp in tanks in
that they used to be called something else.
That's it's I don't know how it's pronounced, but
shrimp. Uh, oh my gosh. Uh, it's like storage containers.
Yes. Yeah. You know the story.
They're down in Pawville.
Yes. What are they
on Belmont? Aua Blanca is what they go by.
Awa Blanca.
And they were with us this winter. They just unfortunately couldn't keep up with the product. It's just too We're too big. There are point There's a point where we get too too big.
Yeah.
And they were having problems with their supplier. So they had to they they were going to be at a summer market but dropped out.
Yeah. They used to be called Adaria.
Yes. And I And I believe that's maybe their parent company.
Yes. And then Okay, I'm following because I remember seeing this. They pull it up to an event I was at. They're like, "Go outside and see the shrimp farm
and it's like a It's like a legitimate uh
cargo tank. It's a cargo shipping container. Yeah. It's a shipping container that's turned into a shrimp farm." Yeah.
I'm like, that's crazy. and they would come to the market and they had a book to show you how they grew the product. So, it fit our bill better than the Gulf vendor because it was genuinely seafood that was grown raised and grown in in Indiana.
Yeah.
In Indianapolis.
Indianapolis,
which is wild. Yeah, that's that's super cool. Okay. Amazing. So, then let's talk let's round out the episode. Uh let's talk about visitor experience, the guest experience over the course I mean you first got plugged in 14 years ago as a volunteer. You've been going since 2005. Over the last 20 years, how has the guest experience evolved and elevated?
I work every Saturday at the center tent with the information tent is what we would call it or the committee tent. And I would say we've definitely seen a a trend in in younger in who comes to the market. Um, and then throughout the morning it changes. So your hardcore shoppers, they're they're there at 7:30, 7:45 because they know that the best produce can be purchased right as the stalls open, right at 8 a.m. So we definitely that's a and I would say that's probably an older crowd in most cases.
And then as the morning trends on, we start to see the younger families. Uh, and it it's it's over even over the course of the last five years, it's been as Carmel City Center has gotten more densely populated, we are trending to a younger demographic and they're coming more for prepared foods and breakfasts and coffees.
Yeah. And maybe like taking home a little like loaf of bread or like a cheese meal or something. Yeah. Uh, but it's like getting a walking waffle.
Yes. You like that?
Are they still there? They are.
Yeah.
And that's a multigenerational business.
It is. It is. That is a You need a recipe for like a Saturday afternoon nap. So, get yourself a little walking waffle, then head to the couch. You're your money.
She sells them in six-packs.
Don't tell me that. Um, okay. So, excuse me. I will say, yeah, it's a cool place cuz the there's some like space that your kids could just like play around in the grass and you can hang out and listen to some music. When did the live music start?
Before I started. So, even before we moved to our current location, we had
innovative. Like, I don't know if I've ever been to another farmers market. Oh, wait. I've been to one in Florida that had like a mariachi band, which is pretty cool. Like, I loved that.
We have one volunteer whose job it is to just book musical acts.
Wow.
And people come up to us and that's I think Nate, one of the things that makes our market unique is when you go and you've had this experience, you think, "Wow, this is unbelievable." And so on any given Saturday, I will talk to anywhere from three to six people who say, "I want to be a vendor here. How do I become a vendor?" And we'll have that conversation over and over.
How many people apply every year to be a vendor?
It depends on the month, but I would say I average at least 12 to 15 applications a month.
Let's say a hundred. Easy math. 100 people a year apply. How many vendors get accepted?
Well, they have to bring their product. It it Yeah. Our favorite Saturdays are when Susan will say, "Hey, we'll have a tasting here."
Is there a volunteer aspect for that? Can I uh can I be a guest judge?
Yeah. Well, yeah, we we sample all of the food before, not the produce so much, but any person that wants to be a vendor at our market has to come before the board so that we can sample their product because, you know, unfortunately, some people think their product tastes great and it really doesn't. So anyway, and we we need to get we need to get a feel for the person who is going to be selling the product. You know, are they a good fit? Is their product a good fit? And sometimes we've been surprised, you know, it's like, I don't think this is going to work out. It's like, yeah, it really did.
I would also say that at this point when a vendor comes, one of the first things we ask is, are you prepared to see 4,000 customers on a given Saturday? It is uh it's more than you can imagine to have to prepare foods in the heat in August when we are up to six, seven, eight thousand people on a Saturday.
That's true.
And so making
and the worst and like the worst thing you could do is like bring a vendor in the baby's prepared
and then give a bad experience and then they give a bad experience and then everyone's unhappy.
Well, and I we have we will hear it from our guests. They'll come up and say they're already sold out. They're sold out every weekend. And that is it's easier to say when there's produce they can only grow so many peaches in a given Saturday. But it's also then not maybe not a fit for us because they don't have an orchard that is large enough to handle the demand that quite frankly we we put on our vendors.
Wow.
Right. So it's it's a give and take. And so on a sat on any given Saturday Susan will say we have a vendor that we need to try out. Um we'll like we like to start them for the winter. The winter is a smaller market for us. People don't want to come out in the dark in the cold and the ice. So, it's a smaller number of people. So, it's a safer way to start and build up and test your product, frankly.
Yeah.
Before summer,
like what vendor sees the most people?
It has to be corn. But then, Peter, I would say with the coffee,
Circle City,
Circle City Sweets and you know, Becker Farms back in that corner, they do a tremendous business. If you had to give a rough number of like economic impact, like for the entire summer, like how much money is spent at the Caramel Farmers Market in a summer?
I don't think that we track that.
I never asked them. I I will ask the vendors if they are pleased with their sales, if their sales were above what they anticipated, but I don't think it's any my business. I never ask them what their sales are.
Hey, like what do we how many how many thousands of dollars we do over there?
Well, it's like a solar salon. They're renting their booth space. It's the, you know, think of the, you know, the way that the business is set up. We rent booth space, but that's their business. We're that umbrella that provides the electricity and the marketing and the
Let's do some like back of the back of the napkin math. If you have like what do they say? How many weeks in the summer is it?
22.
22 weeks in the summer. And on what do you think the average amount of guests are?
Between 50 I would say 5,800
times. Okay. If everyone spent $10.
And if everyone spent $10,
which is so low, no chance of spending $10.
I don't know what you're buying, but yeah,
I was just making it easy on your math.
Like, that's like 1.2 $1.3 million spent at a farmers market.
And
if everyone only sp if you're only spending $10, like come on. But but and I also would like you to remember we just like the Chris Kindle Mart, we bring all of those people to the center of Caramel. So those people are probably spending their time in the area, whether it's
buying gasoline, maybe they're going to lunch afterwards, maybe they're going and staying for a festival that the city is producing. So again, it's an economic engine for the city.
Yeah. Last summer, Nate, we welcomed 126,800 guests
in 22 weeks.
Wow, that's incredible. Wow. Really, really cool. Uh an awesome part of the the Caramel community and a fun business to kind of like dive into like how that all works and the opportunities you're providing for these, you know, maybe small family-owned businesses or like legacy businesses, you know, like my dad sweet corn, is that what it's called? Right. Like 26 years in a row. He is the farm that he's on. He's the either the four third or fourth generation
that is
corn grower on that property.
That's amazing.
And we've expanded this year. I think we've gotten a little smarter with the way that we are uh bringing in on our sponsors.
And so our sponsors are more about the wellness and they they want to take advantage of the number of people that are coming to the market. And so uh we have sponsors that pay to be at the market each weekend. And my favorite story these days is the concierge doctor who has chosen to relocate to to Carmel. And so we have a doctor who is paying sponsorship dollars to be on site to introduce his product to the that 126,000 last weekend. If you've been in central Indiana, you remember it was quite windy. Um and we had unfortunately we had an incident where one of the children got hurt. So they got hit in the head with something that was flying from the wind. Well, we had a doctor on site who was able to look at that child and make sure that child was okay.
Need a doctor, it's there.
Right. Well, and so we have our sponsors and our sponsors are more in the health and wellness than they are the food business. So, we have a nice compliment that allows us to keep the prices low to let those vendors come on and grow their business.
Yeah. IU Health North is our presenting sponsor
and um they've been with us for a number of years.
That's amazing. Yeah,
that that's really cool. and the the amount of volunteers and the community effort that all comes together to to make Caramel Farmers Market one of the biggest farmers markets in the state of Indiana uh is incredible and it's a good time. I would highly recommend anyone go out and check it out and see what all the hype's about. We are going to get into some fun lightning round questions here at the end as we kind of talk through when people do show up. What's your guys' like top three? Like if you could only pick three vendors.
Oh wow.
And you had to do that.
Yeah.
You can't do that to us. Uh or if you had to say like these are three like first timers, you need to go try these three vendors.
If you're looking for a good sandwich, I would go to the We have a Polish vendor who is from Poland and uh their food is amazing. Fabulous food.
The Polish vendor.
Yeah. And her it's Goa's Rustic Kitchen and Goa is her name in Polish.
Oh, that's amazing. Okay, so we're fabulous.
First time there. You're showing up at the Polish. Oh, fabulous. Love it. Okay.
Always get asked about coffee.
ICR, like Indie Coffee is really good. It's, you know, like they have a an awesome spot like just down the street.
Several spots now.
The Mission Coffee and they do a little like chocolate mocha thing.
It is phenomenal.
Uh we do always people always ask why is there such a line in the back? Uh Circle City Sweets, French Pastries. Uh we always get asked about that because the line is tremendous. And of course the corn. We can't we can't end the segment without corn. I want a I want a breakfast sandwich. Where do I go? And that's there's no easy answer. There are so many vendors. So, we have to say, are you looking for a crepe?
Are you looking for an egg?
Are you looking for a walking waffle?
Are you looking for a walking waffle?
We sell a rapas.
A rapus. Exactly.
I had one of those last year.
I did a I did a rape on a waffle the same day. I'm crazy.
You took a big nap in the afternoon, didn't you?
But that's So, that's a a really common question we get asked. Uh, I got asked last weekend, uh, where's the popcorn? So, I have to say, well, are you looking for kettle corn or are you looking for salted popcorn? Because we have a vendor that makes popcorn both places.
Yeah. Each of you have clearly dedicated a lot to the Caramel Farmers Market and just like farmers markets in general. You seem to know a ton. I want to know what's your most memorable farmers market memory.
The standing in line at the chili cookoff four years ago. We have the firefighters come in and each year our firefighters do um the the each fire station we pick a food and then the city comes together and they taste the different chilies or the different cobblers from the fire stations and then they pick the winner and so there's every year there's a fire station with the winning whatever kind of food and I distinctly remember standing in line and looking up over the palladium and there was a black line in the sky. It was a distinct black line like I have never seen before. Like a movie black line where the cloud is just perfect. And then the wind gust that came up over the straight line with the straight line windstorm and took the tents away.
That's my distinct memory.
And I will tell you, Nate, there you know there four legs obviously to a canopy. We have our canopy in like a cement bucket. All four of the legs. There were four of us holding on one to each one of the legs. I was one of them. I went airborne.
No.
And I'm not a lightweight.
There was like a tornado.
Straight straight line wind.
Straight line wind.
One of our one of our vendors is a meteorologist. He's with the Department of Homeland Security. And what?
Yes. So, yes. So, he
in his in his free time, he sells meat at the farmers market.
He puts the weather on. He's got a a monitor above his tent and he puts the when there's going to be bad weather, he'll put the weather up so people can see to know when to go indoors. He he writes the emergency plan for us every year. So that and I distribute to every one of the vendors and all the volunteers read it. So if there is ever an emergency of any type, we are all prepared to do because that's a that's a very confined space to have that many people.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. Um, okay. Susan, what's your
uh probably my you know, and this doesn't have anything to do with the vendors, but I just I so enjoy watching down in the amphitheater where the music is, the tons of little kids just enjoying themselves so much every single Saturday just, you know, mom and dad are sitting around eating breakfast and the kids are there just tons of kids down there dancing and playing around. Yeah,
they just love it. It's just a real community gathering space. Okay, I have two final of these questions to go. One, I need you to stay with me on this one. Okay,
if you were trapped in the Caramel Farmers Market for a month and could only eat from one vendor, what vendor would you live off of for a month?
James' Juice and the Live Project because I know I'd come out healthy after a month.
There you go. 30 days.
I'd have a 30-day juice juice cleanse.
Okay, that's a good one. What's it called?
That's a good one.
The Live Project. to live project.
Yes.
Yeah. He's a phenomenal person. What I
James story?
Oh, James's story. James was a special ed education teacher at Lawrence High School and went to the doctor one day and the doctor told him that he was pre I don't know pre-diabetic. Pre-diabetic and that he needed to change his lifestyle and he said, "You know, you you need to consider something." So, we researched research and started juicing. And one Saturday he showed up at the market with a belt that had seven little bottles wrapped around his waist and he said, "I make juice and I'd like to be a vendor here at the market." And it's like, "Okay, dude.
Your belt juice."
Exactly. But one of our volunteers said, "Well, I'd like to try it." And you know, he's a success story. He is now, and I can't reveal who, but he's now pretty soon going to be his juices will be available in one of the local grocery stores. So, he's another one of our
Stay tuned for more.
Right. That's awesome. That's a really cool story, too, about like turning a passion project and like a lifestyle change into a business and then growing. That's so awesome. It's called the Live Project.
Yeah.
Oh, congrat. All right. Well, go check that out.
You'll have to check it out.
Now, now where But if you were trapped in the farmers market for a month,
I I would like to have an oven because I would go to the food florist. We have a vendor who makes prepared frozen meals. Pop in the oven. They come out in an hour. They are absolutely delicious. really good one. Okay.
Have you Have you tried any of your food?
I haven't yet, but I see them and I'm like always This will be the summer. I'll I'll get one this You have my commitment on that. So, you talk about James showing up with his juice belt. Final question from this bill.
Is there a vendor pitch that is just very memorable that like someone wanted to be in the farmers market so bad?
People come up to the committee tent as Randy says all the time and say, "What does it take to be a vendor here? What you know, da da da da da." And I always my first question to them always is what is the product that you wish to sell because we don't allow pillow windows. We don't allow chyro you know there are a number of products
pillow windows.
Oh yeah.
What are pillow windows?
Oh that's a brand of windows
literally you know glass pane windows. Yeah.
Anyway
people want to because again we bring 45 to 7500
eyeballs. They're going to look. So this this lady said to me she said um I'd like to be a vendor here. And I said, 'What is the product that you like to sell? And she said, I I haven't decided yet. Like, really? But but as she's standing there looking at the thousands of people, it's like I'll come up with something because I know this is where I want to be.
I mean, I'm kind of in the same I'm like, dang, what I like was it's like 50% of the product has to be like produced by your I'm like, what could I produce 50% up here? I want to sell something at the m seems like a fun time. Uh, she's like, "I don't know, but I don't know what.
I don't know, but I like
that's memorable." Uh, all right. These are the same three questions that I ask everyone who comes on the show as we wrap it up. First off, thank you so much for coming on and sharing the story of the Caramel Farmers Market.
Thank you for having us. Oh my gosh, this has been so much fun. And it's really cool to learn more about this this thing that maybe we take for granted, you know, like it's you're there every Saturday morning, 22 Saturdays in a row during the summer and then there's the winter market.
They only take six weeks off. People get your butt to the farmers market.
They take two weeks off in October and the month of April
and the month of April.
The month of April so we can transition and get everything.
Where's the winter market at? Uh right up the street at 6113rd Avenue Southwest. Right across to the north of the palladium, right across City Center Drive is Salano 1.
You can't miss it. And it actually says Caramel Winters Market and there are large butterflies on the outside. Can't miss it.
We had Jules Muck, an internationally known muralist, come and paint um butterflies and bees and sunflowers. Wait, so I don't know the street names in Caramel, but just like like direct if I'm at like where
uh like that that roundabout where like Matt the Miller's Tavern is, where do I go? Go straight down.
One one block to the west and you're at the roundabout where the Palladium is and turn to the north and go a half Oops. Go a half a block and you're right there.
Okay, I got you. Okay, I'm following. Yep. Nice. The work that you guys are doing is super important. It's a an institution in the city of Caramel. Um, so continue the great work and uh I'm excited to come and visit this summer.
So here here are our final three questions. Hit me.
Uh we'll go Yep. We'll go boom boom boom boom. All right. So first thing, Randy, what's something the world needs to know about Indiana?
There's more than corn in Indiana.
Even though corn is the number one the number one attraction to the caramel farmers market.
There's still more than honey, too. Come on. I love that. That's that's a really good answer. And I mean as people Indiana is really relevant nationally right now with like Indy500, Pacers basketball, fever, the whole like those are three sports things, but like very relevant nationally right now, but there is a ton more than corn. What's something the world needs to know about Indiana?
Even much of the United States is familiar. If you don't know race car driving, you don't know the Indy500. Like I said, I lived 38 years in Cincinnati. The Indianapolis 500 the day after the race was maybe the third, fourth, fifth page in and the article was maybe itty bitty. Nothing nothing to know. So, you know, the world needs to know that 350,000 of your friends are going to be in one space on
go on Sunday. I love that. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
Two of them pop into my mind. One is Indiana Dunes. And the reason is that everybody says, "Oh, you know, Indiana, you don't have a beach." It's like, no, we have something better than a beach. If you go to Lake Michigan, there's no salt, there's no sharks, and it's fabulous.
I love that. That should be like a tagline. No s no salt, no sharks, no problems.
If you go to St. Joe, Michigan or or um New Buffalo, they sell t-shirts that say no salt, no shark.
That's pretty good stuff. Uh what was the second one? You said Indiana Dune.
It's a Studebaker Museum in South Bend. It's fabulous.
I just went on this deep dive. So I sometimes I just like see things out there and I like go on my own little history dive. The history of Studebaker wagon company that then like evolved into the Studebaker cars that I think went out of business in the late 50s or 60s.
62. My grandfather worked at the stu at the South Bend or the Studebaker wagon factory. Started there in 1909.
Wow. And then like went through the evolution where it became a car manufacturer and then eventually goes out of business. But it is like I mean that business started in like the 18 somethings.
Wild Studebaker Wagon Company. Interesting. That's a really good one. I like I've never had that one before.
Okay.
Uh Randy, what's a hidden gem in Indiana?
Uh I run into more people who don't realize that across from uh New Fields is RH, the new RH uh restoration hardware.
Yeah. Wait, what's the difference between R res Restoration Hardware and RH? Is that they just go by the initials J C Penney JCP, right? Everybody's doing Duncan, you know, everybody's going shorter.
RH,
right? So, I always find when I tell people, "Oh, we went and had lunch at RH." And they look at me like, "Where are you talking about?" And I say, "Oh, yeah. Restoration Hardware bought a house on Michigan Michigan Road and they converted it into an actual showroom. So you can see their furniture and they have a restaurant on site and it's beautiful and overlooks water and most people aren't even aware it's there.
No clue. That's a that's a really good one too. Wow. These are two really good hidden gems. Final question of the day. Randy, we're going to start here. You get to share the love. This how we learn about new guests or hear about uh other interesting people. Maybe they're vendors. Could be anything. But who's a Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. I believe Caitlyn Clark is such a great brand ambassador for the state of Indiana and for young girls.
I I like the last part you said there too, like the way that she has just
she's changed the face of girl sports nationally, let alone Indiana.
Yeah. And it's like through what she's doing on a basketball court, like more talk shows, more ESPN time, more television contracts. Like I loved their schedule release where it's like uh every game or sold out something like that and it's like every game is sold out like every game is a home game.
WNBA.
Bang. I love that. All right. That's going to be tough to top.
How about our market manager Susan?
Yes. How about who brings fresh food
from all across the state to Caramel, Indiana? I I mean amazing. And does it as a volunteer. Imagine loving your community that much and wanting to
get up at 4:45 every Saturday in the summer for doing that and like, you know, managing all the different vendors from all across the state.
Hey, it takes a village. There are there are 40 of us that volunteered together and we all, you know, if it weren't for each other, we wouldn't have be able to produce what we do.
Susan, before we go, you have to tell Nate about our oldest vendor, the lady who has the most years.
Okay. We have a vendor who is a
vendor a volunteer.
A volunteer, I'm sorry. Who is 89 years old and she hasn't been with the market as long as I have, but she is probably I don't know 49 410. She's a little bitty thing, but she's from Martinsville. She's lived in Indiana her entire life. Her name is Marilyn and she is a total spitfire.
89 years old, still volunteering at the farmers market. What's her like what's her gig?
She is a counter. So that's how we know how many people come to the market. There are five entrances to the market each, you know, the four corners and through the garage and they have a little clicker and they count every person that comes in and every half hour Randy at the committee tent asks for their numbers. And while it's not 100% accurate, it's pretty close.
Wow.
And Marilyn stands there in the heat of the summer.
Yep.
And and greets every person who comes in on her corner, her entrance.
What's her name?
Marilyn. Okay, Marilyn is 89, is a volunteer at the Caramel Farmers Market. When you see her, make sure you're nice. She's
Everybody's nice to Marilyn. Everybody knows Marilyn. She's an institution.
Yeah. I love that. I got to go say hi to her.
Oh, and our our second oldest vendor, I think, or a volunteer is 87. I mean, there are tons of us that are in our 70s, 60s, and 70s. It's But now, now it's nice that we're getting the young people to, you know, the brute strength to help.
Exactly. I love it. Well, hey, thank you so much for coming on and sharing about the Caramel Farmers Market. I'm really excited to get out there this summer and keep up all the good work.
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Get In. If you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at sweetwater.com. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the Hoosier State great. We'll see you next time here on Get
