BY LANI DUKE

The new winter farmers market in Rutland is providing an opportunity for a number of regional businesses to make their presence known in the Rutland area while it also brings shoppers to the downtown. Farmers and crafts people beyond the geographic area usually seen in the Rutland Downtown Farmers Market have contracted to display their wares in the former Strand Theater space behind the Rutland Natural Foods Market (the Co-op) at 77 Wales Street. Others seem to be using the winter market to open up new branches to existing businesses.

Singing Cedars Farm of Orwell is new to shoppers at the summer market. During the summer, it sells products on the farm, at the Middlebury and Orwell farmers markets, the Middlebury Co-op, the Fat Hen, and American Flatbread. Like many of the other food producers at the market, they are members of the Vermont Fresh Network.

Other growers that may be somewhat unfamiliar to those who do most of their fresh product shopping at the downtown Rutland market are the Kilpatrick Family Farm of North Granville, NY and Sunset Farm, owned by Jeff and Cathy McMurray of Fort Ann, NY. The Kilpatricks specialize in winter growing and greenhouse crops; the McMurrays specialize in chickens and domestic rabbits while also selling local honey, brown eggs, and raspberries and blackcaps in season. In the spring, they will add beef and pork.

Riverside Farm of Whitehall/Hampton is more visible to Rutland shoppers with baked goods and holiday items. In season, the farm also offers fresh berries. Another agriculture-based business displaying its wares at the indoor market is Old Barn Honey of Reading.

Shoppers at the winter market might be surprised to think that they are eating foods that are shared with the nation’s gourmets. Dancing Ewe Farm of Granville sells its cows’ milk caciotta cheese and ricotta cheese to Food Network chef Mario Batali’s restaurants. The Crawford Family Farm of Whiting offers an alpine-style farmstead cheese under the name Vermont Ayr, available in both natural curd and waxed form. Naga Bakehouse of Middletown Springs, already available at the Co-op, but not a Downtown Farmers Market purveyor, offers hearty artisan breads baked in its wood-fired oven. Some are using the Rutland winter market to expand their business into other areas. Harvest Moon Bed & Breakfast of Rutland is expanding into the edibles area, offering soups and snacks to local shoppers.

The winter market has other attractions than simply raw and prepared foods. Sharon Kerwin of Cornwall offers handmade goat milk soap and lotion from her Orange Cat Soapworks. Local musicians perform. Chips fly as The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center of West Rutland demonstrates the stone carving process from a corner booth.

Faces familiar to Downtown Farmers Market shoppers abound too. The Ayers farm of Whitehall continues to serve soup, baked goods, and fresh and deviled eggs. Marilyn Brander of Nickwacket Farm sells homegrown wool yarn, wool hats, slippers, and toys. Jams and jellies from Scotch Hill Farm; produce from Boardman Hill Farm and Foggy Bottoms; and snacks from Samosaman assure the consumer that he is indeed “at home.”

A Rutland Area Farm and Food Link (RAFFL) booth encourages shoppers to expand their knowledge about the connection between local communities and the farms and agriculturally based businesses that supply them. Tables and chairs encourage consumers to sit down to enjoy the ambiance, nibble a samosa or muffin, and sip a cup of cider.

A great deal of volunteer work has gone into the renovating the venerable Strand Theater, with contributions from Pistols ’n Roses, Rutland Natural Food Market, RAFFL, Vermont Farmers’ Market, Gilmore Home Center, Rotella Building Center, Downtown Rutland Partnership, Chaffee Arts Center, and the Carving Studio & Sculpture Center. Thanks are due, too, to the small army of co-op volunteers who built that organization new storage areas that helped to open up the floor space on the old theater’s main floor. Yet more renovations are underway, with the installation of better lighting and the eventual addition of farm scene murals, created by local artists.

All available space filled quickly, says Greg Cox, president of RAFFL and owner of Boardman Hill Farm. He has a waiting list containing the names of additional would-be vendors.

Winter markets are a fairly new part of Vermont’s food business. In addition to Rutland’s new venture, other winter markets are taking place in Brattleboro, Chelsea, Dorset, Montpelier, and Norwich.