Summer may have officially begun with the Solstice on June 21, but as far as local, fresh food lovers are concerned, the season really started a few days earlier with the return of the weekly Telluride Farmer's Market. Every Friday, South Oak Street is colored in the shades of fresh-cut flowers and just-harvested organic greens and vegetables.

Farmer's Market organizer M'lissa Story, of Telluride-based Green Media Works, calmly surveyed the bustling scene last Friday afternoon from her vantage point on the corner of Pacific and Oak. A street full of new and returning vendors and an eager crowd of local and visiting customers greeted her gaze.

"People have really been anticipating the opening of the market," she said, which marks its third anniversary this summer. "In the last three years, the community here has embraced everything about it - the food, the values and what the market represents. I think people really appreciate knowing where their food is coming from, and getting to meet the people that grow it."

The market bustled with customers toting large bags overflowing with wispy carrot-tops and leafy greens, balancing bouquets of flowers in one hand and baked goods or fresh fruit smoothies in the other. Customers who may have missed the first market of the season due to Bluegrass Festival events, were greeted last week with a handful of new vendors and products.

Many of the new booths making their debuts this summer offer alternatives to shopping for the kitchen or pantry. Telluride native Rena Miller has brought her Paonia-based Rena Hemp Designs clothing to the market this year, with hand-embroidered hemp T-shirts, pants and more.

"It's great to promote a good, comfortable alternative to cotton, and especially back here in Telluride," Miller said of her new booth at the market.

Telluride local Eowyn Burke is another new addition with her booth, E Designs, specializing in unique and original jewelry crafted primarily from natural objects like carved wood and precious stones.

Also making its Telluride debut is Shawn Merie Metke and Susan Kelley's locally based business, Telluride Gift Baskets. Various themes, like the Girlie Basket, Mac Daddy Basket, Hiker Basket, and Darby Dog Basket, showcase locally crafted goods such as soap and natural body products from Tomboy Soap Company, locally roasted coffee from Tomboy Coffee Roasters, barbecue sauce from Fat Alley Barbecue, dog bowls and toys made by local small business owner Rich Schoup, and fleece blankets sewn by Melissa Sumpter.

"It is remarkable how many different products are made right here or very close to Telluride," said Kelley. "It's been fun for us to put this idea together and start our own business, while at the same time helping promote other local businesses."

Story agreed that the Farmer's Market has been a boost for numerous local businesses.

"The market has acted as a kind of incubator for many small businesses just starting out. The focus of the market is, after all, locals supporting locals," said Story.

One market veteran who has seen an explosion in business thanks to its presence at the Farmer's Market is Indian Ridge Farm and Bakery, whose booth commonly boasts a line 15 deep, waiting for fresh eggs, free-range chicken and granola.

Other popular booths returning this summer include Zephros Farm, Circle A Farm, Tomten Farm, Borden Farm, Kiva Orchards, and Rivendell Farm, offering the season's freshest, regionally grown herbs, flowers, fruit, and vegetables to local restaurant chefs and home kitchen cooks alike.

Delicious and easy-to-cook Fox Fire lamb chops are always a welcome appearance on Telluride patio grills, as are grass-finished steaks and burgers from Durango-based James Ranch. James Ranch is also selling their Whey-Good pork products, ranging from breakfast sausage links and bacon to pork chops, along with their artisan cheese - always a quick sell-out, so get there early for a taste.

Rounding out the 2005 docket of Farmer's Market merchants are locally based jewelry, arts and crafts vendors, including Sarah Scherbal Jewelry, San Juan Alpacas products, Thyme After Thyme natural bath and body products, Butter Sweet Farm goat's milk soap and bath supplies, and Flair Robinson mosaic art studio.