07/07/2020
The Windmill Farm and Craft Market
LIFL: When did you start working at the market and what were you initially doing?
Steve: I started here in 2016. I was employed at that time as general manager. A position which entails most everything you imagine it would when operating a 40-acre farm and craft market.
What are your main duties at The Windmill Farm and Craft Market?
Primarily I am responsible for annual financial and operational oversight, planning, marketing, vendor relations and recruitment, and growth and development for our market.
What is a common thing that customers say about visiting the market?
“It’s my happy place,” “Everyone is so nice here” and “It’s like the Disneyland of farm markets.” Most commonly, “We love it and come back every year!”
What part of the Finger Lakes Region do you like to visit the most?
Hmmm, that’s very difficult, I first visited 15 years ago and have owned our country home for 8. I still need a rubber neck when I’m driving. Everything is so peaceful and serenely beautiful. I even enjoy the winters. But if only I could shorten them a month or two.
What is the most spontaneous thing you have ever done?
I’m rather notorious for spontaneity, at least in my pleasurable indulgences. I guess it might have been the time I stopped at an old railroad bridge spanning a river back in Ohio. I paraded my 4 young children across it to the other side. Perhaps not my best decision but they certainly remembered it! Although, there was that mountain in Zion National Park where we did a similar thing on a narrow mountain trail.
What words of wisdom would you pass onto your childhood self?
Improve your grade school scores in Self Discipline and Self Control. Every poor decision I’ve ever made lacked one or the other, or both. And one more, don’t be afraid you might fail. Failing and falling hard from it, has taught me the most about the truly important things in life.
What is one thing people often misunderstand about you?
That I’m a softy at heart.
