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Forest Grove Farmers Market sees bumper crop of crowds for 2014 [The Oregonian, Portland, Ore. :: ](Oregonian (Portland, OR) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 13--This season's Forest Grove Farmers Market has broken several crowd count records, said coordinator Kaely Summers. Summers told the Leader in April that she hoped to reach 3,000 people for the market's First Wednesday events, and she's far exceed that. The last three First Wednesdays have "blown out of the water" previous years, she said. Crowd counts estimate that the last three First Wednesdays had the highest attendance ever for the market, with 3,756 people estimated on June 4, 3,738 on July 2 and 3,576 on Aug. 6. Summers explained how Adelante Mujeres estimates attendance by using a program other markets use to perform "crowd-counting." Volunteers are placed at both ends of the market. They count people entering the market for 10 minutes at a time, every hour, for the duration of the market. Then using a specially designed equation, the numbers are added up and multiplied by 6 for a final attendance estimate. An advisory committee and the Adelante Mujeres Board of Directors study the attendance, along with weather information, to see trends of when and why the most number people are attending and how the market is growing. "It gives us an idea if we're growing every year with our customer base," Summers said. "And see if were able to expand more. Decide the number of vendors we're able to take on. It's a good baseline for us." It's also away for Adelante Mujeres to look "our marketing efforts, and see if they are paying off." Summers attributes the growing success of the market to the hard work and support of market staff, vendors, sponsors and the market customers. She also mentioned the work of the previous market coordinator Gina Bell. The Forest Grove Farmers Market runs 4 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays from May to October on Main Street between Pacific and 21st avenues. --Ken Centers ___ (c)2014 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Visit The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) at www.oregonian.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |