FARMINGTON -- This will be the last Friday for the busy outdoor Sandy River Farmers Market on Front Street, but agricultural producers have decided they want to keep the momentum going.

The new venture will be an indoor farmers' market. It will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at the Farmington Grange at 124 Bridge St. in West Farmington.

At the same time, a number of farmers involved with the online Western Maine Market want to keep that market open, as well. Customers can order between Saturdays and Thursdays and pick up their orders Saturday mornings at the Grange. The venture is run by the nonprofit Western Mountains Alliance.

The online market was developed both to link producers in a 30-mile radius of Farmington to a wider customer base and provide a convenience for customers.

Until this year, at the end of October, farmers at the outdoor market would lose contact with their customers over the winter; the new venture aims to keep that connection open, said Dennis Wilk, who owns King & I Angus in New Sharon.

Wilk and his wife, Sara, breed and raise registered Black Angus beef and have developed a strong following of customers, he said.

He said it didn't make sense to have the market growers work so hard to build up a clientele during the summer, only to let them go back to the grocery stores for seven months during the winter.

"I think the winter market will turn out great. Everyone I've talked to about it is really excited," he said.

Last summer, the Wilks started slaughtering one steer a month, which produces about 450 to 500 pounds of usable, 100-percent Angus beef. Now, because of demand, they are butchering one steer every three weeks, he said.

Karla Bock, co-owner of Hoof & Paw Farm in New Sharon and one of organizers of the outdoor market, said there is good potential for a year-round market, as long as producers can provide the products.

"I think it will work because more people are selling and they want to keep that continuity," she said. "And customers want to buy local."

The market at the Grange will sell root crops, potatoes, vinegars, herbs and herbal lotions, cheese, garlic, onions, baked goods, eggs and winter greens. So far, every producer who has signed up is also a regular at the outdoor market, said Wilk.

The fee is $4 per table per market. For information, call Wilk at 778-0154 or Andy Marble at 779-4858.

Orders for the online market are purchased through PayPal, a secure-payment site that allows users to have the cost charged to their credit, debit or checking account.

"The fact that farmers did well enough during the summer to want to continue through the winter bodes well," said market coordinator Tricia Cook.

For information on the online market, call Cook at 778-3885 or go to www.westernmainemarket.com.

Betty Jespersen -- 778-6991

bjespersen@centralmaine.com