AUBURN - From early spring to early fall, the Auburn farmers market on Genesee Street is a staple stop for those seeking fresh fruits, vegetables and other locally produced items.

And despite the difficulties local growers had to contend with this year, farmers say the market has had a good year.

“It was very up and down this year,” said market manager Millie Bednarski, of Cato, who has also been a vendor for a number of years. “There were a lot of things that were late this year. Like we have late watermelon now that just came up. Early on it was too dry and then later it was too wet. The weather was really tough this year.”

Amy Hall, of Belle Terre Farms in Sodus, said her father has been coming to the market for the past five years and this was her first year running things. And while the weather presented difficulties, her family's farm, which produces apples, pears and various squash, was fortunate.

Like other vendors, the Halls were able to persevere through the difficulties presented by the weather.

“We were lucky,” Hall said. “We didn't get hit with all the hail other people did. For us the weather was pretty good and we had a pretty good growing season.”

Bednarski said that throughout the entirety of the market season there were 19 vendors, a strong turnout.

“There are more early on,” Bednarski said. “People with flowers and plants, things like that. When it gets to be fall it dwindles down a little bit, but we had a good turnout this year.”

For many vendors, the market is a matter of tradition, but it also offers something more.

Even with increased costs in fuel, it has been well worth farmers' time to make their way to the market.

Bob Horsford, of Horsford Farms in Weedsport, said that he has been coming to the market for five years, and despite the cost of travel, it is money well spent.

“This is my main market,” Horsford said. “It is definitely worth it for me to come here.”

The state of the economy has impacted farmers, who have had to raise their prices slightly or change their market schedule.

“There are still a lot of vendors that are here three days a week,” Bednarski said. “But there are others that have had to cut back. Some that are coming from the northern part of the county, like Sterling. They'll only come here one or two days a week, because of what it costs to get here.”

Increased costs have also impacted buyers, who are looking for better bargains and ways to save.

While prices have increased slightly at the market and vendors said buyers have noticed the price increases, they have tried to keep them low.

Bednarski said that, in general, this has not impacted customer traffic.

“There are people that you will see here three days a week still,” Bednarski said. “And there are other people, like from the senior citizen complexes, they'll pool their money and a couple of people will come here once or twice a week and then they'll go back and divide everything up. It has been a pretty good year for us really. People plan to buy their groceries around this and are faithful to the market.”

By offering a credit card machine for debit, credit and food stamp cards, the market made purchasing more convenient for shoppers, something that Bednarski said will most likely continue next year.

Farmers have benefited from more people being interested in buying locally and the market offers the opportunity to see the grower face to face and ask questions.

It's a sentiment both Horsford and Hall echoed.

“More and more people want to buy local foods,” Horsford said. “People will ask me to make sure that I grew it. That has been really important to people.”

As this year's market prepares to end, Bednarski said her and the vendors were pleased with the season.

“We might start earlier next year,” Bednarski said.

“There has been some talk of starting in May, and if four or five people want to start a little earlier it might really be worth it.”