City Council Awards $2,500 to the DBBA for 2011 Farmer's Market

The Dixon City Council last night voted to award the Downtown Dixon Business Association a grant – to be funded out of its General Fund – that will help the group put on this year’s Farmer’s Market.

The Farmer’s Market has been going strong in Dixon since 2008, providing a place where local and regional farmers can sell their fruits, vegetables and crafts. This year, the DBBA made a few changes to the festival including moving it to Saturdays at Women’s Improvement Club Park.

Some of the changes made to the market this year came out of fiscal necessity. The DDBA was originally slated to receive a grant for $10,000, which would have come from redevelopment funds.

But when Gov. Jerry Brown called for the doing away with redevelopment agencies throughout the state and the seizure of RDA assets, cities such as Dixon moved to protect their RDA funds.

Dixon allocated all the money left in its RDA account to the Core Area Drainage Project, leaving no money – $41,000 it had originally allocated - that it had promised to various groups such as the DBBA for the Farmer’s Market and the Dixon Chamber of Commerce for the May Fair Parade.

The DDBA had to make deep cuts to the expenses it took on by holding the Farmer’s Market in Dixon.

“We really are trying to keep the costs down,” DDBA President Jill Orr told the council last night. “It’s really going to take a lot of work to do this.”

In order to keep costs down, the DDBA voted to discontinue the market manger it was using to run the market, saving $3,250, as well as eliminating face painting, a jump house, transportation, and significantly reducing its overhead.

In addition the DDBA voted to lower the amount of money it spent on newspaper advertising and promotions.  As a result of getting rid of the market manager it was using, their insurance costs jumped from $300 to $1,200.

Orr explained to the council last night that it was because the market manager was receiving a discount from its insurance company to hold the event and not something that the DDBA could also receive.

The DDBA’s budget for this year to hold the event is $5,000. The group cut its expenses from $17,400 last year to $7,500 in 2011. This left a deficit of $2,500 that the council covered last night by giving the DDBA the grant.

“This is going to be an incredibly volunteer intensive effort,” Councilman Dane Besneatte said. “I’m in favor of it.”

Councilman Thom Bogue said: “I like that idea that it is going to be moved to Saturday. It may generate more income.”

Vice Mayor Michael Ceremello said he too was in favor of giving the DBBA the grant, and said he would like to see the Farmer’s Market become “viable and profitable on its own.”

The voted passed by a margin of 3-0, both Councilman Rick Fuller and Mayor Jack Batchelor were not present at last night’s meeting; Mayor Batchelor was in Washington D.C. on official business and Fuller was not feeling well according to council members.