Jon Scagnelli’s experience managing farmer’s markets has yielded great vendor connections and great ideas to help vault the new Farmer’s Market at the Guilford Fairgrounds to success.

The brand-new weekly venue, which started up on May 4 and will continue into late October, has quickly become a Thursday shopping, dining, and entertainment destination. It draws not only local folks but followers of the wide variety of vendors from across the area and the state that Jon invites to participate.

The market’s Thursdays hours are 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., rain or shine, at the Guilford Fairgrounds on Lovers Lane.

Based on his experience, including his work heading up a popular Garden Market in Wallingford, Jon’s curated a spectacular group of vendors offering fresh and locally grown fruits and vegetables, baked goods, artisan foods, spices, oils, meats, seafood, fresh pasta, eggs, and many more specialty products, from fresh mushrooms in show-stopping varieties to the likes of amazing beef jerky, kombucha and lemonade.

The market also includes a number of craft vendors and entrepreneurial enterprises. Top that off with a line of local food trucks serving a variety of dinner, snack, and dessert items, add in live acoustic musical entertainment, and mix in the scenic Guilford fairgrounds — as well as plenty of picnic tables and parking — and Jon’s got a hit on his hands.

Jon says he was excited when the Guilford Agricultural Society (GAS), which owns and operates the fairgrounds, reached out to him with the idea of GAS sponsoring a farmer’s market at the fairgrounds.

“I’ve been running markets for over five years now, and they reached out to me and asked if I wanted to help them start a market here,” says Jon. “I’ve built up quite a vendor list over the years, and I’m familiar with a lot of the vendors. I have some people who drive 45 or 50 minutes, and then we have a lot of our locals.”

The majority of the vendors are full-time, but drop-in vendors are also added into the mix to keep things lively and exciting.

For market fans eager to know what’s in store for the week, Jon keeps a running tally in posts and photos at the Farmer’s Market at the Guilford Fairgrounds Facebook and Instagram pages. Last week, among several favorite food trucks at the site, he announced debut appearances of The Greenery Food Truck and Meriano’s Canoli Truck. This week, the G-Monkey Vegan Food Truck will roll into the market for the first time on Thursday, June 29.

Jon is a huge supporter of the importance of farmer’s markets supporting locally owned enterprises, as well as the unique experience they provide to customers. As Jon describes, this isn’t your grandfather’s farmer’s market.

“Farmer’s markets have evolved,” he says. “With the evolution of the farmer’s market, you try to make it a one-stop shop. In order to draw more people and different crowds, over the years, we’re incorporating local crafters, people who specialize in artisan food products, and then we also have our food trucks, and we have live music every week.”

The idea is to make this a destination where folks will feel equally great about spending some time as well as some money.

“They can come relax for the afternoon, have dinner with the family, and shop around. At the end of the day, this is not only a great place for families to come together but for the community to come together. It’s a community builder,” Jon says.

There is never an entry fee to enjoy this unique venue, he notes.

“This isn’t a money-maker for the event. This is a money maker for the small local businesses, and that’s what it’s all about. When you come and shop at this market, you’re helping put food on the table for a small, local business,” Jon says.

Thanks to Jon’s management skills, the market is built and ready to open within just a few hours’ time each week. There’s also a lot of thoughtful planning that goes into how the market is arranged. For example, the first row of vendors to greet guests arriving at the fairgrounds “...have more a farmer’s market feel,” Jon says, with displays and arrays of fresh vegetables, fruits and produce and products like jams, jellies, maple syrup, meats and fish, flowers and more.

One of the best opportunities a consumer has to learn about what they are buying exists at farmer’s markets, Jon adds.

“Not only are they getting fresh, local Connecticut made — the best of the best — but when you come to the farmer’s market, you’re talking to the people who make and produce all this stuff,” he says. “They will tell you exactly how it’s made, why they made it, and what got them into it.”

Vendor Susan Williams of Bitta-Blue Farm of Killingworth is a regular here.

“Part of the success of a farmer’s market is to have displays that are different and more varied than you’re going to find at the supermarket,” she says.

Bitta-Blue, which offers organic vegetables, duck and chicken eggs, jams, and pickles, sits beside the Connecticut Grown tent (chock full of vegetables, fruits, and baked goods) and shares spaces with the likes of Curly Tail Farms of Middle Haddam (gorgeous fresh flowers). There really are too many vendors to name, but all of them can be found at the Farmers Market at the Guilford Fairgrounds Facebook and Instagram sites. Jon posts photos and news of each week’s good eats, great buys, and fantastic offerings.

“We rely on Facebook and Instagram for publicity, but we also rely on every vendor at this market sharing where they’re going to be. We encourage everybody. They bring their following, and word gets around.”

Jon builds the market out to include arts and crafts vendors and specialty product vendors like AuntieArwensSpices.com, as well as entrepreneurs such as organic and natural cosmetic and essential oils vendor Twelve Springs.

When you consider that a huge number of people are attending this weekly venue that lasts just three and half hours, it’s definitely a show of success, says Jon. The market welcomed 2,500 guests on its first day and averages about 1,800 visitors weekly.

“From what I understand, this is something that has been wanted in the downtown area for multiple years, and it came to fruition this year,” says Jon.