I think that we all have desired to be that fly-on-the-wall at some point in our lives. I had a bit of that opportunity recently. The Market was the topic of a conversation I was involved in, and the speaker did not know that we were the person's primarily responsible for the Market. The general consensus was that "oh, the owners are too ambitious" and that "there's no real interest in that around here."
Personally, Walt Disney has always been a huge inspiration of entrepreneurship to me. The guy was bankrupt not just once but three times before starting DisneyLand. His own brother, Roy, wouldn't give him a dime. His family and friends wrote him off as "a dreamer". Then, he wanted to put DisneyWorld (in Florida) smack in the middle of swamp. I'm pretty sure that there wasn't an established market! But he had a vision; did not fear failure; and was committed to the end.
The Mount Jackson Farmers Market will hardly be DisneyWorld - but in some way, it might not be far off. As we grow, and in addition to fresh, local produce, we hope to have entertainment, good food and be an exciting place to spend a day with the family. Oh, there's indeed a market for the Market. In fact, we've done our Market Research (pun intended).
Well, the good news is that we're not really going anywhere. We may start off even slower than we anticipated, but we know that if we take it slow and steady, that things will be okay. We plan to start small and grow into the bigger picture. Perhaps the bigger picture will even change or evolve. All we know and can assure ever one of is that we expect to be about quality. Anyone who came out to last year's outdoor market got a taste of that.
Early one, we adopted the sunflower as our logo. Sunflowers are wholly humble, yet interestingly proud members of the flower world. They are very generous flowers, both with their beauty and abundance of seeds. They are considered symbols of loyalty and longevity. And the sunflower was the Aztec's symbol for God.
Interestingly, every time we need a boost of encouragement, the sunflower pops up. Last night, I had a dream of looking out into our backyard. Sunflowers of all sorts of shapes, colors and varieties, began popping up everywhere. Very interesting. I usually don't share stuff like this, but it really struck me.
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