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WPB GreenMarket 2025: Bigger and Better Than Ever! · Inside West Palm Beach

• 0:00
  Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
• 0:03
  Jerry Marcello. The summer heat is fading
• 0:05
  and West Palm Beach is ready for another
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  wonderful winter season. The returner of
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  the West Palm Beach Green Market serves
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  as the opening act for fall and winter
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  and the event is jam-packed with new
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  vendors, new features and delicious new
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  foods. We'll take a look at what may be
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  the biggest and best green market ever.
• 0:23
  That's next on the City Center Podcast
• 0:25
  from West Palm Beach.
• 0:31
  And joining us now is Angela Poco who is
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  the City's Marketing Community Events
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  Manager. Angela, welcome. Thank you for
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  having me today. Let's start with a very
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  basic question. You know some people
• 0:42
  think that a green market is nothing but
• 0:45
  a place for buying greens. Is that the
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  case? They have never been to the West
• 0:50
  Palm Beach Green Market then. So
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  ironically you know our green market we
• 0:54
  try to stay true to what a European green
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  market model looks like. So you
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  won't find a lot of tchotchkes and things
• 1:02
  that are like store-bought that
• 1:03
  you could pick up anywhere. We have
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  produce which of course you know we
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  always focus on our farmer, our growers.
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  That's our number one attraction that we
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  want to be able to make sure we
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  accommodate. We have cafes and we have
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  beverage vendors and we introduced a new
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  category this year called health and
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  wellness because we realized that as we
• 1:22
  are growing as adults and you know we're
• 1:25
  evolving that our market needed to change
• 1:27
  a little bit and we recognize that
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  health and wellness is such a huge thing
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  amongst people right now. So we
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  added a health and wellness category and
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  so this is the first year we're kicking
• 1:36
  that off as well. But again all natural
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  products we're looking for those little
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  businesses that have that niche the
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  greatest out of the greatest and and
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  that's what makes our market just a
• 1:48
  little bit different than some other
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  markets that might be out there. And I
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  think one of the things that really makes
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  the our green market different than
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  others is the sheer volume of vendors
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  that you have. How many do you have for
• 1:59
  this year? So I always like by saying
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  this like I don't know if people realize
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  that our market is judge-and-juried. So
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  wait so it's not like you just sign up
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  and you know show up.
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  No. You other markets
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  you put your application in and they take
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  you. Our market is different and we
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  pride ourselves on that. We had over 900
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  applications for this green market. Of
• 2:23
  those we did a deep dive took out the
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  ones that we didn't feel fit any of our
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  categories and you know they just weren't
• 2:31
  one of the categories. And then
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  from there we had 400 viable applicants.
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  It takes five days to judge those
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  vendors. Everybody comes in it's a pure
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  pure judge panel so we ask a lot of our
• 2:48
  volunteers that come in and judge these
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  things but they're experts in their field
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  whether that's marketing they're a chef
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  they own a small business they own event
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  you know they do events they volunteered
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  events but they're experts in their
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  industry so that when they're coming in
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  they're judging these people based on
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  what they know to be true. So you have to
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  really bring your game to get into this
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  market and you know that's first and
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  foremost and when you ask me how many
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  people this is the most we've ever taken.
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  We started with 150 vendors and that's
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  just core vendors so if you were down
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  there you saw the footprint expansion
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  really spectacular it was so happy with
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  opening day but more to that we also
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  created the sprouts program this year. So
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  when we were going through the judge
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  process there were so many amazing
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  vendors that came through but they just
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  didn't have the market experience they
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  were just getting their teeth you know
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  just cutting their teeth and in their
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  business and they had a spectacular
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  product and they judged really well. So
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  we thought the sprouts program would be
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  a great add-on again when you look at
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  what our city is doing right now it's
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  developing at such a huge rate but it's
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  developing in a unique way and the
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  mayor has a jumpstart program which is
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  phenomenal so we kind of borrowed his
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  model and we were like hey we can do this
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  with a sprouts program we want to
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  be able to give them the tools that if
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  they want to register to be a small
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  business we can help them get through
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  that if maybe they want the opportunity
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  to be able to learn more about social
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  media and what's working for them in
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  marketing or they can't keep up with the
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  sheer volume of our market we're gonna
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  allow them to come once or twice a month
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  versus having to be there every week.
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  So it gives them the chance to break into
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  a market but without the full
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  pressure of oh my goodness I have to keep
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  up with this supply and demand every
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  single week so we're trying to set an
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  expectation that's realistic for them so
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  that they can be successful. To use a
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  sports analogy it's sort of like a
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  junior league. Absolutely. Little league
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  or you know the minor league there's a
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  word baseball so that's really neat you
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  have the ability to have folks come in
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  learn the ropes from you and from other
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  people who have been involved
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  in the process for a long period of time
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  and therefore you're actually spurring
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  growth in local business. Absolutely and
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  we're hoping that you know again
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  everybody always hopes that their
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  business becomes something and as
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  they're starting as these micro
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  businesses they're really entrepreneurs
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  that are trying to figure out where they
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  fit in the market and just like so many
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  of our vendors in the past they become
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  brick and mortar but it's they'll all
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  tell you you know oh I got my start at
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  the West Palm Beach Green Market and
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  then they go on to do these amazing
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  things and for us that's the ultimate
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  testament. If you've done something
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  you've done it successful we're sad to
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  watch you go but we completely understand
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  and we want nothing more than
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  for them to be successful. That's really
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  amazing so once again we're dealing with
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  hundreds of vendors perhaps on any
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  particular Saturday. Yeah. Is everybody
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  down on the waterfront? So we take up
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  basically two blocks from the
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  waterfront Flagler to the 200 block
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  through the 200 block and we're on
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  Olive. Right up the street. Right up the
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  street yeah so we put roughly between our
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  sponsors and our sprouts and our regular
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  vendors we could be in excess of
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  170 vendors out there which is pretty
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  impressive I think. Very impressive well
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  I'm going back to earlier conversations
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  that we've had dealing with the very
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  origin of the green market when you were
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  in the parking lot of the city all. 13
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  vendors we started. 13 vendors was all
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  you had and now look at what's what's
• 6:35
  happening obviously we have a formula
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  that works and it's something that is
• 6:38
  really interesting for the folks to come
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  and visit and take part in during
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  season. You know so we talked a little
• 6:48
  bit about how these vendors are learning
• 6:50
  their craft as they go forward and that
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  some do move on. Do we feel that we
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  are going to be seeing even more vendors
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  taking the leap and actually opening up
• 7:01
  or their own brick and mortar? Well I
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  mean we hope so ultimately like you know
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  just in these past few years a couple of
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  our primary vendors that we absolutely
• 7:10
  love have opened brick and mortar. Olive
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  oil of the world he opened a brick
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  and mortar bread by Johnny opened
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  actually I think he's on his second brick
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  and mortar so like watching them grow and
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  expand you know it's just it's
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  amazing to watch that happen Palm Beach
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  salt another one they opened a brick and
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  mortar just recently New York roll-up
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  bright and northwood and some of these
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  are staying in West Palm and we love that
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  so that's pretty pretty amazing. One
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  of the things is very clear and it
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  follows with a lot of things that the
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  city does is the city is adapting and
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  changing its approach to things as times
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  change and the city is growing and people
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  are coming here the the green
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  market has changed its path in its
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  direction over the years and the decades
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  where are we going now where do you want
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  to take the green market as we move
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  forward? So you know it's interesting
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  when you say that because I'm one of
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  those that looks at something and says
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  okay yes we're established you know when
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  we first moved over to the waterfront we
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  were 45 vendors and then we would add on
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  a little bit more we would add on a
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  little bit more and each year I push
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  the boundaries a little bit further and
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  you know a couple years ago I looked at
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  it and I'm like okay I want to do a
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  MasterChef showcase we've got so many
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  talented chefs that are out here people
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  don't even realize that some of these
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  businesses are chefs and that's how they
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  started like let's capture that so we
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  started with that and then I'm like okay
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  just pause for a second like I love
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  plants however my plant skills might not
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  be at the level to keep them sustained
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  not so I'm isn't as green as you'd like
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  yes so then I was like well okay why
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  don't we use our vendors who are experts
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  in these field and start doing these
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  workshops because our goal we want to
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  keep people down in West Palm Beach we
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  want to keep them down we want them in
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  the shops we want them shopping with our
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  merchants like not just the market but we
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  want them to come play and stay you
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  know there's so much to do downtown so I
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  was like okay a lot of people before
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  we're just running and grabbing what they
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  wanted from the market and leaving
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  and I'm like how do we keep them here a
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  little bit longer so that's just evolved
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  into all sorts of fun really neat things
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  to do but like you know you can
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  learn how to do a flower arrangement are
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  we opened up with a wine tasting so you
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  got to sample different cheeses from the
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  market vendors and then you could go
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  shop at the pop-up wine shop that we have
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  too so it's like we're giving
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  people opportunities to do or learn
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  different things we're going onto the
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  health and wellness component of it and
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  now we're going to be working with some
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  of the studios that are downtown and a
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  lot of people come from those studios or
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  they don't even know that they're there
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  but they will soon because they're going
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  to be doing a class downtown and then
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  we're gonna pair that up with like a
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  field of greens afterwards that's going
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  to give them a drink so you're gonna be
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  able to take a Pilates class experience
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  amazing experience from a West Palm
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  Beach vendor like that has a
• 10:17
  brick-and-mortar that
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  you might not know is
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  there and then walk away with something
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  you know of a walk away from a vendor so
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  and you're gonna pay ten dollars for that
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  so those classes are filling up
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  so those classes are filling up
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  quickly and it's just amazing that you
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  can do that and then you can just sit
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  and shop at the market afterwards and
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  experience all the rest of the vendors
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  how does it just on that little point how
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  do people sign up or how do they
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  register for your events sure so the
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  easiest way is WPB.org forward slash
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  green market on our landing page for the
• 10:50
  green market you can click a link
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  and it takes you right to Eventbrite so
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  right now all those classes live on
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  Eventbrite and you know they range and
• 10:58
  like there's a pumpkin painting I think
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  it's five dollars they range from five
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  dollars on up to thirty five depending
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  on what it is you're making but there are
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  some incredible classes coming up and
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  I'm excited because I'm either gonna take
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  a few practice up because you can
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  do a paint and sip and there's just I
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  cannot say enough things about the
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  programming that's happening down there
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  that's really neat and the other thing
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  too which I really love about the green
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  market is the vibe down there and you
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  know the people are truly cool and
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  friendly and relaxed and everybody's got
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  their dogs and I mean it's dogs kids yeah
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  everybody's having a really great
• 11:35
  time it's you know it's interesting and I
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  it took me a long time to sit and try
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  to figure it out like what is it and it's
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  just been like in the last three
• 11:45
  three to four years the explosion and I
• 11:48
  would say probably after COVID but it
• 11:51
  was like what is it why do so many people
• 11:54
  want to be there and it really is
• 11:56
  like it's a place to be and it's the
• 11:58
  place to be seen and you watch these
• 12:00
  people gather with their friends yeah or
• 12:02
  they're bringing their whole family down
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  whether that's your family with your pets
• 12:06
  your family with your kids your
• 12:07
  parents but they're bringing them down
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  there to be part of an experience and
• 12:12
  you know it's just so nice to just watch
• 12:14
  people sitting in the great lawn
• 12:16
  enjoying the music or taking a workshop
• 12:19
  or just the shopping like for me the
• 12:23
  shopping is just incredible my husband
• 12:25
  cringes sometimes because he's like are
• 12:27
  you going to the market to work or are
• 12:28
  you going to market to shop and I'm like
• 12:30
  maybe both but like there's just so much
• 12:34
  to do and you know it's we've got
• 12:37
  extended hours so we're 830 to 130 now
• 12:40
  it's we really did want to make sure
• 12:43
  that it's a safe environment so the road
• 12:45
  closures help with that keeps people
• 12:47
  protected there so I think people are
• 12:50
  just overall happy that they can get out
• 12:53
  walk to something get some exercise shop
• 12:56
  and just take in our amazing waterfront
• 12:59
  vibe totally it's the vibe is wonderful
• 13:02
  the the relaxation is great and you
• 13:04
  really get a chance to step out into
• 13:07
  South Florida at its very best and really
• 13:10
  enjoy stuff our vendors are the best of
• 13:13
  the best so like if you there is
• 13:15
  something for everyone there so like if
• 13:17
  you're you know gluten-free we've got
• 13:19
  you covered if you're a vegan we've got
• 13:21
  that too so like literally if you go
• 13:24
  down there you will find at least one
• 13:26
  place that you want to shop at all right
• 13:28
  I know we got people hooked and there's a
• 13:30
  lot of people who haven't been to the
• 13:31
  green market let's tell them let's give
• 13:33
  them a list of the most important tips
• 13:36
  to make sure you get the most out of the
• 13:37
  event absolutely so I always you know I'm
• 13:40
  a planner by nature so if you're coming
• 13:42
  out for the first time plan our market
• 13:46
  brings roughly about 20,000 people down
• 13:49
  on and on a given Saturday and that
• 13:50
  sounds like a big overwhelming number but
• 13:52
  remember you have blocks of shopping
• 13:55
  because we do but right up against the
• 13:57
  antique and fleet which is another two
• 13:58
  blocks of shopping so I always say get
• 14:01
  there early the garages that are further
• 14:04
  away are there's three city garages that
• 14:06
  we have that are free parking from 830
• 14:09
  to 130 so plan to get there early get
• 14:12
  there park walk and and the thing is is
• 14:17
  you can shop while you walk so it's not a
• 14:19
  bad thing and if you really need to be
• 14:21
  in an up close vendor you know garage
• 14:23
  that's closer to the vendors then you've
• 14:25
  got two other options but the city
• 14:26
  garages they work just know where you're
• 14:29
  going and understand that there are road
• 14:31
  closures so give yourself a little bit
• 14:33
  of time and just know that when you get
• 14:35
  there it's all gonna be worth it do I
• 14:37
  have to worry about feeding the kids
• 14:39
  before I head on out or is there stuff
• 14:40
  on site no way like you you want to talk
• 14:46
  about the melting pot of things to eat
• 14:49
  and you cannot go wrong bring a cooler
• 14:52
  bag bring shopping bags you know so that
• 14:54
  you're more sustainable but you can
• 14:57
  literally have breakfast shop the whole
• 14:59
  day have lunch or heck you can even grab
• 15:02
  lunch at one of the restaurants if
• 15:03
  you're like okay I've marketed myself out
• 15:06
  but there are breakfast options
• 15:09
  brunch options lunch options yeah
• 15:11
  take-home options but if you walk away
• 15:14
  from our market hungry you have done
• 15:16
  something wrong some markets you get
• 15:19
  there you can walk around it's they're
• 15:20
  wonderful markets but you're done in in
• 15:22
  half an hour that's not the case no I
• 15:25
  don't I don't know that you can
• 15:27
  successfully see everything that we have
• 15:30
  in one trip and I think that's one of
• 15:32
  the things that's so unique about our
• 15:34
  market people have their favorites and
• 15:36
  they go and that's great yeah but then
• 15:39
  they see something you know and they're
• 15:42
  like oh oh okay and so then they have a
• 15:46
  new favorite so I always encourage
• 15:48
  people don't go in there with blinders on
• 15:50
  thinking I'm going for one thing
• 15:52
  be open and look at the markets as you go
• 15:56
  along and soon we're gonna have a
• 15:57
  great interactive map that you can
• 15:59
  actually the we've done something new
• 16:02
  this year with booth numbers so if you
• 16:03
  see on Instagram people are yelling see
• 16:06
  me at booth blah blah blah we'll find it
• 16:08
  they'll be able to find them but they'll
• 16:09
  be able to also from that map they'll be
• 16:12
  able to get a description of what it is
• 16:14
  that they're selling and then the
• 16:16
  location of where they are so helpful
• 16:18
  for that too so and it's like I said it's
• 16:21
  just an amazing experience and you
• 16:24
  know take a chance come down and
• 16:26
  absolutely and and it's part of what
• 16:29
  you've been talking about with changing
• 16:31
  out vendors it's never the same every
• 16:35
  week it's different there's new things to
• 16:36
  discover so multiple visits make sense
• 16:39
  it is and the great thing with us is we
• 16:42
  used to do the judging every year and we
• 16:44
  stopped that we started giving people two
• 16:46
  years because by the time they get
• 16:48
  the hang of things our markets over one
• 16:51
  other great thing we did extend it out
• 16:53
  through May this year so our vendors were
• 16:55
  happy people seem to be happy so we
• 16:58
  gave them one more month to shop but you
• 17:02
  know they're there for two years unless
• 17:05
  something happens but you know that's
• 17:07
  great and we also put one more thing
• 17:10
  into place that I do want to touch base
• 17:12
  on we recognize some of our vendors
• 17:14
  have been with us since the inception of
• 17:16
  the market we've had a couple of them
• 17:17
  that are hanging in right with us so we
• 17:20
  decided that after 15 years you're
• 17:22
  pretty much vetted in our market and you
• 17:24
  know what you're doing and you've got it
• 17:26
  down to a science so this year we
• 17:27
  introduced legacy vendors and we have
• 17:30
  14 of them that no longer have to go
• 17:32
  through the judging process as long as
• 17:34
  they want to be part of our market we're
• 17:36
  happy to have them so they will be here
• 17:38
  as they grow we grow and that's pretty
• 17:42
  spectacular too continuing family of
• 17:45
  vendors who are comfortable and know what
• 17:46
  yeah yeah yeah and again there are
• 17:49
  staples in our market and what makes our
• 17:52
  market so amazing is our vendors you
• 17:55
  know I can I could try to say it's all
• 17:57
  the programming it's all the extra stuff
• 17:59
  but the bottom line is when you have the
• 18:01
  best of the best out there and we do why
• 18:05
  would you not want to come to something
• 18:06
  like that so so the upshot is we bring
• 18:09
  the kids bring the dogs making the dog on
• 18:12
  a leash on a leash yeah they got to be
• 18:14
  only but bring the dogs because I you'd
• 18:17
  be down there and you could almost do a
• 18:18
  story about just the dogs and their
• 18:22
  interactions in there hanging out yeah
• 18:24
  oh and it's fantastic so it is a relaxing
• 18:27
  fantastic day of just enjoying
• 18:31
  beautiful weather beautiful food
• 18:33
  wonderful vendors and just everyone is
• 18:35
  having a great time everyone's is so
• 18:38
  pleasant like you know when you're
• 18:39
  walking around and you're thinking oh my
• 18:40
  gosh all those people but the thing is
• 18:43
  is people get it there's lines like
• 18:45
  you'll wait in the line maybe one more
• 18:47
  longer than the other right but I think
• 18:49
  it's all in the planning if you know
• 18:51
  there's certain vendors that you want to
• 18:53
  get to get to them early because I will
• 18:55
  tell you I can't tell you how many
• 18:57
  vendors I heard on Saturday said I sold
• 18:59
  out I'm like what I sold out I'm like
• 19:02
  okay so you now know next time bring
• 19:04
  more you know bring more of your product
• 19:06
  but like if you've got a plan and then
• 19:09
  once you've got your core things checked
• 19:11
  off your list then just sit and explore
• 19:13
  you know take one street do another do
• 19:17
  the middle get the rest of them right
• 19:19
  you know and you're gonna find so many
• 19:21
  hidden gems that you didn't even know
• 19:22
  existed so one more time where can people
• 19:25
  find out information about what's
• 19:26
  going on absolutely so WPB dot org
• 19:30
  forward slash green market and then our
• 19:32
  green market also has an Instagram so
• 19:35
  they can follow us on Instagram follow
• 19:36
  up volume on Instagram all the good
• 19:37
  information breaking news is there yes
• 19:39
  that's wonderful Angela what you're doing
• 19:42
  is so important to the city it is
• 19:43
  part of our part of the city's
• 19:45
  personality well it's easy to do I will
• 19:48
  tell you this event kind of does itself I
• 19:51
  let me take that back my staff works
• 19:54
  so hard but it really is an event that I
• 19:57
  think everyone truly does love and
• 19:58
  appreciates well especially for your
• 20:00
  staff to both you and your staff thank
• 20:02
  you for everything you do for the city
• 20:04
  thank you and thank you for joining us
• 20:07
  the city center podcast is launching its
• 20:09
  second full year of video podcasts and
• 20:11
  we've got a lot in store for 2026 so feel
• 20:15
  free to follow or subscribe to get
• 20:16
  the latest from the city of West Palm
• 20:18
  Beach this has been a production of the
• 20:20
  city of West Palm Beach Communications
• 20:22
  Department I'm Jerry Marcello and we'll
• 20:25
  see you next time