Clinton Book Shop Owner Organizes Town’s First Harvest Festival

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After founding the highly successful Clinton Farmers’ Market five years ago, Harvey Finkel, owner of The Clinton Book Shop in Clinton, New Jersey, hopes to begin another tradition: an annual Apple ‘n’ Pumpkin Harvest Festival.

The inaugural festival will be held on October 11 following the farmers’ market, which runs every Sunday morning from May to October in the Clinton Fire Department’s municipal parking lot on New Street, half a block away from the bookstore’s Main Street location. Festivities will take place in four large tents and will include kids’ games and activities such as pumpkin decorating; face painting, sponsored by Clinton’s Hunterdon Art Museum; a bluegrass band and cloggers; apple and pumpkin pie baking contests; local crafters;a beer and wine garden, sponsored by a local restaurant; and three food trucks serving cheese steaks, barbecue, and other festive foods.

To attract festival goers on New and Main streets, which will be closed to traffic for the event, Clinton Book Shop will feature fall-themed in-store author events throughout the day. Signings include Felicia Sanzari Chernesky, author of From Apple Trees to Cider, Please! (Albert Whitman & Company), and illustrator Lee Harper, whose new book is Turkey Trick or Treat! (Two Lions).

The seasonal farmers’ market has grown from humble beginnings, with just four vendors, to more than 18 food stands and nearly 300 visitors every week. The idea for the market came to Finkel seven years ago, when he would often hear customers remark how nice it would be if the town had its own local vegetable market.

“In a bookstore, a lot of people come in and talk about all kinds of things, and when you’re hearing it over and over, you begin to think, What can I do to make that happen?” Finkel said.

In 2008, Finkel proposed the farmers’ market to Clinton’s Town Council, but its members did not immediately agree to it. As a result, Finkel doubled down on his efforts, gathering a committee of likeminded community members. The group prepared a presentation for the council that brought together statistics and ideas from other farmers’ markets around the country.

The council eventually granted the market use of the fire department’s municipal lot, a location that would keep the market downtown and provide access to parking. Now in its fifth year, the Clinton Farmers’ Market has expanded to offer stands selling a variety of products, from vegetables, meats, and cheeses, to teas and coffee, sauces and wine, and cookies and cupcakes. Vendors are charged $20 a week to exhibit at the market and the money goes to the West Jersey Farmers’ Market Association, a nonprofit created by Finkel to fund the festival and pay for necessities like tents, cones, chairs, and ads and promotions.

To set up a booth at the farmers’ market, “the only other requirement is that each of the vendors has to show proof of insurance that the town, the market, and the fire company have been added to the individual vendors’ policies,” said Finkel.

Finkel, who is also a founding member of Hunterdon First, the county’s Local First movement, said he hopes that the post-farmers’ market harvest festival will become an annual event.

“Because we’re doing this for the first time, we’re just going to wait and see how it goes. The festival has to build, just like the market had to build over the years,” he said.

The festival has received support from two of the major banks in town, which will help fund the tents, Finkel said, and the art museum is volunteering staff to help out during the day. In addition, two local merchants have donated to partially sponsor a tent, and some of the store’s customers have also volunteered their time.

The festival cost about $4,000 to put on, according to store manager Rob Dougherty, with $3,000 of that coming from the farmers’ market fund. Vendors at the festival will be charged $25 to help offset the charges for tent rentals, but the remainder of the money taken in during the festival will be donated to the Clinton Firehouse.

Dougherty said the bulk of the planning for the festival has gone on over the last five months; Finkel first broached the idea to the town council in July and received official approval in September.

“It’s a small community, so we wanted to keep it small,” Dougherty said, so balancing the planning with daily responsibilities at the bookshop hasn’t been too much of struggle.

Still, this last week leading up to the festival has been a little hectic, he added, with last-minute vendors approaching them to participate and final preparations to be taken care of, like notifying neighbors about street closure hours and confirming high school student volunteers, who will receive community service hours to monitor the street blockades.

Finkel offered some advice to other booksellers who may be interested in working with their towns to establish a farmers’ market or festival: get to know your community, both its members and its government leaders.

“Get to know the town government and get to know the people, even if they don’t come into your store. Go to some council meetings. Whenever you want to do these kinds of things, it’s always easier than just walking in cold,” Finkel said. “And get your customers involved. Mention it to them; just get the word out there, whether you do it through the store, through email, newsletters, or social media.”