2nd Saturday Market sells out after postponement (video)

The Second Saturday Market sold out of produce despite being forced to postpone until Tuesday night.

Organizers pushed the event to Tuesday night after Produce on Wheels’ truck was in an accident Saturday morning. The rescheduling did not affect the market’s success as residents lined up around 3 p.m. to purchase the fresh produce.

“The event was a complete shock,” Maricopa Special Events and Marketing Manager Niesha Whitman said. “A lot of people came out, and we didn’t know what to expect. So it was pretty shocking to come here at 3 in the afternoon and see a line forming already. We are completely out of produce, so I would say today went exceptionally well.”

Event volunteers opened just one line for customers to start with, but soon realized that would not be enough.

“We were not expecting such a turn out on a Tuesday with just one day to get the word out,” Maricopa recreation specialist Karie Karpes said. “We opened at 3 p.m., and by 5 we were pretty much sold out. Interesting too, 80 percent of the shoppers were also new to the market.”

Volunteers were able to get the market set up and ready on one day’s notice.

“For those who didn’t make it out; Wow!  You really missed something,” Karpes said. “We had our biggest turn out yet. We distributed to over 375 market supporters and had a line up just as long as the first market in November (which we did 350 shares). We were not expecting such a turn out on a Tuesday with just one day to get the word out.”