The 10th season of the Milford indoor farmers’ market will begin on Saturday, Nov. 9, from 10AM – 1PM in the Milford Town Hall auditorium (1 Union Square on the Oval, in Milford).

Milford farmers’ market manager Adrienne Colsia anticipates a great turnout.

“We’re excited to have 18 vendors and live music on stage, with different musical acts each market” she shared. “We strive to offer a wide variety of products and will be selling veggies (including micro and leafy greens), meats (beef, pork, goat and lamb), fresh cut fish (caught that morning!), poultry (chicken and duck), apples, fresh pressed cider and boiled cider (with fresh pressed apples); cheese (from the family cow), goat milk (from the family goat!), jams and jellies, baked goods, spice blends, baking mixes, olive oil (with olives from Greece that are shipped here for processing, with no herbicides or pesticides added), black garlic, all-natural herbal remedies; gourmet mushrooms, sheep products, and a lot more.”

The market will also feature fresh homemade chili and a warm dish, (“if somebody wants to have lunch there!”) and Honduran hot coffee, and even though it’s indoors, that will ease any chill in the air.

“I’ve found that our attendance has picked up, especially over last summer when we moved to a better location with better visibility and signage,” she noted. “And this year, we’ll be open roughly every-other Saturday; those dates are Nov. 9 & 23, Dec. 7 & 21, Jan. 11 & 25, Feb. 15 & 29, and Mar. 14, & 28. And plus, it will be in the town hall, which is a really quaint building.”

Colsia added that the vendors add to all the diversity.

“We have two skin-care product sellers,” she said. “One vendor sells soap and lotions made with goat milk, which has a lot of benefits to it. The other is also selling soap, but this product is made with olive oil and avocado, as some folks that are vegan don’t want to use a product with milk in it.”

She added just in time for winter, there will be knitted goods on hand as well.

“We’re going to have socks, hats, scarves, mittens and gloves,” she said. “All made from alpaca.”

Farmers’ markets themselves can often offer farmers increased profit over selling to wholesalers, food processors, or large grocery firms. By selling directly to consumers, produce often needs less transport, less handling, less refrigeration and less time in storage. By selling in an outdoor market, the cost of land, buildings, lighting and air-conditioning is also reduced or eliminated. Farmers may also retain profit on produce not sold to consumers, by selling the excess to canneries and other food-processing firms. Also typically at the market, farmers can retain the full premium for part of their produce.

Colsia did note it can be a struggle attracting new audiences at the farmers’ market as stores like Whole Foods Market and other organic stores (even the organic section at Market Basket and Shaws Market), can take a bite out of its down-home competition.

“I think people are more and more interested, and as always, we encourage people to buy local, healthy and fresh,” Colsia enthused. “We would hope that folks who live in the area would certainly support their local farmer and their local farmers’ market. Plus, this is our first market for the season and folks will be curious.”

For handicap access, there is an elevator located in the town hall on Middle Street and there is handicap parking adjacent to the building.