On Saturday morning we went as a class to the Bloomington Farmers' Market. Our goal was to see how the Market and its various outlets (food, crafts, music, etc.) gave Bloomington a sense of community. Once we got to the Market, we split off into our individual groups to wander the market, observing and mapping as we went.
Some of the observations that were immediately apparent to me were the diverse groups of people that had flocked to the market. They were of all ages and races. Also, the farmers themselves were a varied group as well. There were small family farmers and even some Amish people that were there selling vegetables and homemade cheese. As for the musicians, children seemed to be their primary audience. The little girls and boys seemed to love to stand and watch or dance to the music of the guitarist, ukulele player, and the band. They also seemed drawn to a man with a parrot and a big fountain just outside the main entrance to City Hall. As far as music, one band in particular, a local Bloomington band called Busman's Holiday, drew an especially large crowd.
A conclusion that can be drawn from the diverse groups of people is that the Farmers' Markets has a way of drawing people of different backgrounds together. The different vendors show that anyone can have the desire to sell food that they have grown personally or can want to connect with the people in their town through this type of event. It also seems likely that the children were drawn to the musicians because they were much more open to the new experience of watching and listening to these artists than their parents and other adults were. Perhaps Busman's Holiday had the larger crowd because they have more notoriety around Bloomington than the smaller, more independent ukulele player and the guitarist, and they also seemed better at presentational performance because they kept more people's interest for longer periods of time.
The participatory aspects of the Bloomington Farmers' Market are similar to the participatory aspects of music in a few ways. One of these ways is how it gives the vendors a sense of community among themselves. One man that my group talked with, a craft vendor who makes decorative light switch covers, told us about the strong relationship that he and his wife have built with other art vendors and customers. A reason that the Farmers' Market is likely so popular is that it gives both the vendors and buyers a chance to participate in the exchange of food or crafts, which resembles the participatory nature of music in the way that everyone is able to do something. Another way that the Market is similar to participatory music is that everyone who attends is expected to participate in some way, whether it is through buying, selling, or just browsing and talking to people.
Pictured below is my group's map, in which we depicted the children, adults, food, politics, crafts, and music with various symbols. As is shown and was mentioned previously, the children were primarily in the food rows or near the music, while mostly adults were browsing the craft section.
After roaming the Market for a couple hours, we were treated to a question and answer session with Marsha Veldman, who affirmed that the Bloomington Farmers' Market has been good at bringing Bloomington residents closer together as a community, similar to what participatory music can do for other communities. Ms. Veldman also mentioned that the music helps vendors with sales and that the social aspect of the Market is important for families. Also, it can be noted that the Farmers' Market is much more personal than a grocery store because the buyers actually have direct contact with the people that grew the food that they are buying.
Overall, the Farmers' Market was a good experience for seeing the way that communities can interact together in a situation that is not solely music based.
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