FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 While this week\u2019s chilly temperatures may have kept beachgoers bundled up inside, one local outdoor spot was busier than ever.<\/p>\n
Senior Reporter Emily Young warms up with some warm coffee and paella:<\/p>\n
Lakes Park Farmers Market<\/p>\n
At the Lakes Park Farmers Market in Fort Myers, dozens of vendors and hundreds of shoppers turned out bright and early Wednesday morning \u2014 long before the market\u2019s official 9 a.m. opening. The crisp air didn\u2019t scare anyone away; in fact, it seemed to draw people in.<\/p>\n
More than 65 vendors filled the park with everything from fresh coffee and homemade pies to Filipino specialties, pickles, paella, clothing, jewelry, and plenty of treats and toys for kids. The sights, smells, and sounds of the market created a cozy community vibe that\u2019s perfect for a cool Florida morning.<\/p>\n
Many vendors say the colder weather actually helps their business. When it\u2019s too brisk for the beach, locals and visitors alike look for other ways to enjoy being outside \u2014 and the farmers market offers just that.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes on a rainy day, you can\u2019t believe how successful the vendors are,” said Jean Baer, with Local Roots, the organization that puts on the Farmers Markets. “Because people don\u2019t have anything to do, as much to do, as many options, so they\u2019re coming out here and they\u2019re spending money and supporting the vendors.”<\/p>\n
Baer told Senior Reporter Emily Young that in times of bad weather, they typically see around a 20% increase in attendees and sales.<\/p>\n
The Lakes Park Farmers Market is open every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Gladiolus Drive in Fort Myers. And if you can\u2019t make it midweek, no worries \u2014 organizers host markets across the area almost every day.
For the full schedule, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 While this week\u2019s chilly temperatures may have kept beachgoers bundled up inside, one local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,7270,1267,2068,28677,3242,899,29065,29066,29067,29068],"class_list":["post-44212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-chill","tag-cold-front","tag-cool-temps","tag-emily-young","tag-farmers-market","tag-fort-myers-metro-south-florida","tag-jean-baer","tag-lakes-park","tag-lakes-park-farmers-market","tag-local-roots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}