About the Market

Oviedo Historical Society Farmers Market

The market is held the 1st Saturday of each month from 8 am to 1 pm (except July) on the grounds of the Historic Lawton House (200 W. Broadway, Oviedo) and is a “traditional style” market with produce, food, baked goods, honey, dairy, plants & orchids and related products. We are considered a medium-sized market and look for vendors who be a standing vendor each month.

The current Farmers Market demographics do include some what you may find at a typical farmers market and includes some artisans and professional artists and select creatives, but does the market does not allow for health care, insurance, general merchandise sales except for a one-time, once a year commercial vendors, when available.

As an all-volunteer run market, we are excited to celebrate our 10th year  anniversary this year. We offer this once a month market to the community and discovered this is becoming an event where our residents love to come and visit their friends and neighbors.

The Historical Society conducted careful research to determine what style market would best suit the Oviedo region and a “traditional style” market was the obvious selection. The Lawton House site was the perfect setting for a Farmer’s Market primarily since it included a historic setting, children park and playground, ample parking and a major roadway connection. In fact, many of our vendors have commented their sales have never been as healthy as they encounter at the Historical Society Farmer’s Market.

Market Vendor Information

For potential vendors, it is your responsibility to carefully and thoughtfully explore all license and code requirements that are applicable from local, state, or federal law. Typically, a minimum of a city business license is required and food/concession, and/or produce vendors normally have license requirements with the State of Florida. In addition, you are solely responsible for your own personal and/or business insurance and are not covered by the Historical Society or the employees, family or friends you utilize for the management of your booth.

Although, we receive a large volume of applications weekly for potential market vendors, there are a few needed types of vendors we are looking for. Each application is reviewed by the Farmer’s Market Committee. Due to the volume of applications, this can take some time. The overall market offering requires a diverse assortment of vendors and we strive not to over saturate any one style as well. We appreciate your patience.

Not for Profit (501 C3) organizations are permitted to participate one time per year and must not offer any product for sale that is in competition with our established vendors. You may set up a donation jar and pass our materials at your designated space. You must also complete the application and submit for review.

We encourage potential vendors to download the Oviedo Historical Farmer’s Market application from the Oviedo Historical Society web site at oviedohistoricalsociety.com and mail the application to our Post Office mail address at PO Box 620841, Oviedo, FL 32762-0841.

FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
 

Why isn’t the market open every Saturday?

Since we are an all-volunteer force, there simply isn’t enough manpower to produce a market each and every Saturday. Based on the feedback we get, having the market once a month is a good way to create a fun community event, keep our vendors productive so they benefit, and provide support to our members and volunteers.
 

How do you decide when to cancel the market?

Since we do live in Florida, there is rain. We always try to ensure a successful market for the community and our vendors. To that thought, we watch the weather forecast for the week of the market and decide that is there is a 80% chance of rain, we most likely will cancel. We don’t like to cancel our market days. We understand its inconvenient especially when we’ve been planning and posting about it all month. But, some of our vendors provide perishable items and out-of-pocket costs prior to the market. We provide enough time so everyone involved knows and can make arrangements accordingly.
 

Are there months that the market isn’t running?

Aside from weather-related cancellations, we do not have a farmers market in July. Past July markets have been sweltering hot and historically ill-attended.
 

How can I volunteer on market days?

We love having volunteers join us. Community Service hours can be earned by our students who take part in our market days. Students can work with vendors, be junior docents giving tours in the Lawton House, work with members to create, participate, and spearhead teen programs. If you have an interest in joining us, email us at oviedohs@gmail.com to sign up for our next market day!