PRODUCTS MUST BE LOCAL:  

• Farmers, Growers, Producers, & Ranchers: These vendors may offer locally grown/raised agricultural products, produce, and plants. Items must be grown/produced/raised by you and either sold by you or your staff. Reselling is not permitted.

• Prepared Food & Food Truck Vendors: Vendors selling food with at least one locally grown/raised/produced farm product in their offerings each week are qualified to participate in the market—preference is give to those that incorporate a higher percentage of local ingredients. Our reasoning for this is simple—we are a farmers’ market. We promote locally grown food. It only makes sense that the food vendors we invite to participate in this event embrace that and choose to buy and incorporate local food into their offerings. We also strongly encourage our vendors to showcase where that food comes from by naming some or all of the farmers/growers/ranchers/producers that you are sourcing from. Food must be made by you and sold by you. The only items that are allowed to be resold are canned beverages so long as they are supplementary to your primary offerings. 

• Arts & Crafts: Only vendors selling their own work are permitted to sell at the market. Vendors selling cosmetics and skin-care products must make the product locally and it must contain at least some locally-sourced ingredients. Reselling is not permitted.
  

HEALTH & SAFETY: We follow Montana’s Farmers Market Guidelines. For specific questions about your product’s licensing, permitting, or regulations, please contact our local Flathead County Health Dept. Sanitarian at 406-751-8130. 

• Farm Products (produce, meats, eggs, etc.): Farmer/rancher/grower/producer vendors may sell raw agricultural products, frozen meats (if inspected, labeled, and permitted according to local and state regulations; or exempted with the MT Poultry Exemption), eggs and milk (per local and state regulations and/or MT Local Food Choice Act). If you sell other foods, see Prepared Foods (next). 

• Prepared Foods (made-to-order and pre-prepared/made foods): Vendors who sell prepared foods (and prepared beverages) must either be a “Non-Potentially Hazardous Food” or MUST have approval from the Flathead County Health Dept. and provide a copy of their permit (Retail, Mobile or Temporary Food Permit) or Cottage Food Operation Registration before acceptance to the Market. Please include a copy of your permit/registration with this application. Do not apply until you have a permit or registration. Vendors must comply with all local and state regulations on food health and safety. Vendors cannot sell edible CBD products. 

• Cosmetics & Skin-care: Vendors who sell cosmetics and skin-care products must comply with the Montana Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (MCA-50-31). Vendors cannot sell edible CBD products.

GOOD STANDING: Vendors that have done business in the City of Whitefish previously must be current with their Resort Tax payments. If accepted applicants are past-due, they will not be permitted to vend in the market until they are in good standing. Returning market vendors must also be in good standing with the Whitefish Farmers Market—having a record of regular attendance and on-time payments.

ATTENDANCE: This market is a rain-or-shine market! Weekly attendance is expected.

• Absences: Communication is key! If you must miss a market due to illness,  planned vacation, or lack of product you must notify the Vendor Manager as far in  advance as is possible, by email or phone (not social media). Because the market is rain-or-shine, weather-related absences are only excused when attendance would cause potential risk or damage to your person or property—in these cases you must still notify the Vendor Manager. 

• No-Call/No-Shows are disruptive to the market and take away spaces that could have been offered to other vendors that want to attend every market. Repeat unexcused absences may result in suspension from the market.

• Seasonal Vendors: Due to our increasing number of farmers, drop-in attendance can no longer be guaranteed—you must plan attendance with the Vendor Manager and be registered to attend. As your seasonal produce is nearing ripeness, please notify the Vendor Manager one week prior to your first market. Please also communicate with the Vendor Manager when your season is about to come to an end.

MARKET SETUP

• Location: You will be assigned a vending location (vendor number for lawn vendors). Your vending location is subject to move from week to week as needed and determined by the Market Manager and/or Vendor Manager. Instructions and a map will be provided before the first market of the season. If you are a first-time vendor, the Vendor Manager will reach out to you to discuss how to find your location from week to week. 

• Tents: In order to protect the public from injury, your tent must be in good working order and weighted to protect from fly-away in the wind. Tent stakes are not permitted. 

• Signage and Promotion: 
  - Signage or banners must be secured within your tent space. 

  - Feather flags/banners are not permitted.
  - Sandwich boards cannot be placed more than one foot outside of your tent space and must not impede on others’ tent spaces or the flow of pedestrian traffic.

ZERO WASTE: The market is a Zero-Waste market. You will not be permitted to vend without proper compostable packaging. We require vendors selling products that are likely to be immediately consumed at the market to use compostable packaging and serving-ware certified by BPI, TUV, or Compost Manufacturers Alliance. No single-use plastics are permitted. For packaging and serving-ware resources, visit WhitefishFarmersMarket.org/zero-waste. Do not wait until the last minute to source packaging—many local providers do not carry a wide variety of qualifying products.  

UNLOADING AND LOADING: There is a delicate balance in setting up the market within a 2-hour window every week with nearly 100 vendors. In order to orchestrate a smooth setup and minimize the impact on other vendors, you will be notified prior to the first market of your arrival window and loading/unloading location. At no point in time are you permitted to impede the flow of traffic on the surrounding streets while you load/unload.

VENDOR PARKING: There are no dedicated event parking spaces for vendors while in attendance at the market. Please respect our neighbors by not parking in front of nearby businesses. Do not park in No Parking zones and please try to utilize public parking spaces east of the depot, east of the middle school, as well as the parking lot on Spokane/First and the parking garage at First/Baker.

SELLING: Selling begins at 5:00, not before. Vendors may sell to other market vendors before 5:00, but not to the public. Vendors must stay set up until 7:30pm—this is both for the vitality of the remaining market vendors, and the safety of market-goers. No selling after 7:30.

INSURANCE: All market vendors are required to maintain a general liability insurance policy.

MARKET FEES:  Our market does not collect an application fee or fee for the season. Instead, for each market, the Market Manager will collect a $1.00 site fee, plus 5% of your gross sales. Payment will be taken at the close of each market at the market tent from 7:30-8:00 p.m. only—please pay before packing up for the evening.

RESORT TAX: The City of Whitefish assesses a 3% Resort Tax on many goods and services sold within the city. It is your responsibility to know whether your items are taxable—please direct any questions directly to the City. It is also your responsibility to collect, report and remit such tax directly to the City by the 20th of each month for the duration of the season (transmittal forms are required EVEN IF no taxable sales are recorded). The online Resort Tax Transmittal service, forms and Resort Tax information can be found here:
https://www.cityofwhitefish.gov/336/Resort-Tax.

A full list of accepted market vendors is supplied to the City of Whitefish. Vendors that the City reports to be delinquent by more than 60 days will be suspended from the market.