Many helped with Farmers' Market

To the editor:

The Downtown Committee is pleased that the "Main Street Farmers' Market" has been such a success this past season. And, as with any new and multifaceted program, its success is predicated on people; people who step up to help organize such an event.

Our market was so successful because of the hard work of a number of people, but most especially our volunteers, Dave Robinson, Cindy Klein, Pam Verhoff and Faith Weber. This past season these individuals took up to nine Saturdays away from their jobs, families, etc. to work at bettering our community. So, they deservedly have earned a "thank you" for their efforts.

Additionally, Mayor Kile and his staff early on supported the concept of a farmers' market. Without their assistance it would have been very difficult to organize and manage such an activity in Bellevue.

Also, the Bellevue Development Corp. (BDC) through its director, Russ Panas, provided much needed support and encouragement. The BDC, along with Croghan Colonial Bank, graciously allowed us to use their building on Sandusky Street as a storage area, which we clearly needed.

Rick Miller and The Bellevue Gazette willingly offered opportunities to promote the market in an effort to re-energize our downtown.

And board members of our chamber of commerce advocated for the market and were able to line up the chamber's support in the early discussion stage of this program.

Ace Hardware generously donated a "smoker" grill for our raffle to raise funds to promote our future markets.

And, thanks to the chair of the Downtown Committee, Dave Freitag, for providing the leadership needed to guide the market to its fruition.

But, we would be remiss if we did not thank our dozens of vendors who took a chance on a new program and supported this market. And also, thank you, to our community members, who came to the market and supported those vendors.

John D. Rockefeller, who would visit Bellevue as a salesman before he made his millions, stated, "the success of each is dependent upon the success of the other." The "Main Street Farmers' Market," as well as numerous other activities in Bellevue, is just one example of how community groups and leaders can, and do, work together to improve the quality of life in our city and help others achieve a modicum of success.

Rick Stegman, co-chair

Downtown Committee

Main Street Market manager