While Carol Carrico of Ellicott City was looking for garlic, fresh fruit and chocolate croissants at the farmers' market at the east Columbia library last week, Columbia farmer David Shaw caught her eye with a container of brightly colored snapdragon blossoms.
After a free taste and an explanation of how to use the flower in salads, Carrico decided, "I've got to have it."
Freshness, variety and friendly advice are key features that attract customers to the four weekly markets in Howard County. A shrinking number of farmers are hoping those things will be enough to keep people coming back.
Over the past six years, two weekday markets have gotten established at the Mount Pisgah AME Church in Columbia and the east Columbia library after changing locations for several years before that. A Saturday market was added at the Glenwood library in 2004 and a year-old market at Oakland Mills Village Center was moved this season to Sundays.
But the overall number of vendors -- including fruit and vegetable farmers, bakeries and the occasional purveyor of homemade products -- has dropped, with five to seven sellers at each site this year.
Across Maryland, the number of farmers' markets has increased from 77 last year to 81 this year, said Joan Schulz, administrator of the farmers' market nutrition program for the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Many of them are perfectly content to remain small.
She said many communities like the idea of having a market, but the biggest problem is getting the public to spend money there.
She said farmers have to face rising gasoline prices, the time and labor of attending markets and the fact that fresh produce that doesn't sell won't keep.
"These people are businessmen," Schulz said. "They have to re-examine their priorities and determine which market would be profitable. ... The bottom line is your community has to be big enough to generate enough customers, and that is part of the problem."
Locally, Shaw is believed to be the only farmer based in Howard County participating in the Howard markets this year.
Some of the county's produce farmers -- of which there are fewer than a dozen -- have chosen to focus on farm stands, subscription services or pick-your-own operations. Some now sell at markets in neighboring counties, while others have stopped attending markets for health or personal reasons.
