Lorna Cherot Littleway is reporting for The Columbia Paper the Hillsdale Farmers Market season has been extended through December 21. The Hillsdale Town Board voted at its October meeting to allow the market to remain open for eight more weeks. The market has operated in the Harvest Barn at Roe Jan Park for four years and its season traditionally runs for 23 weeks from the last week in May to the end of October. Farmers Market Committee spokesman Ron Bixby admitted that extending the market into November and December is a “risky venture” but noted that 12 vendors have signed on. Supervisor Peter Cipkowski sought a $500 “fee” for the additional eight weeks. Bixby said the market would not increase the $15 weekly vendor’s fee to cover the increase because “they are struggling” and that the additional payment would have to come from the organization’s reserve fund. He noted that 15,000 people shopped at the Farmers Market in 2017 and that he expected the number of shoppers to increase by 1,000 in 2018. Cipkowski eventually relented on the additional fee, saying that personally he was “happy to waive the additional fee” so the market could proceed and stay open through December. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.