LOWVILLE — The Lowville Farmers Market will begin holding "mini-markets" on Mondays, starting next week.

The market will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Mondays "until weather conditions become unfavorable" at the Bostwick Street entrance of the Lewis County Fairgrounds, according to a release.

"I don't know what kind of crowds we're going to get," said Dolores B. DeSalvo, director of the local farmers' market and community nutrition educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County. "But it's there if you need it."

The regular farmers market is held from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays inside the Forest Park Pavilion at the county fairgrounds. The hours will switch to 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in October.

The Monday mini-market will provide another opportunity each week for area residents to buy local foods, Mrs. DeSalvo said.

It also will allow those who commute to work in Lowville to visit a farmers market without making a special trip here on Saturdays.

Earlier this summer, Janelle J. Blakely, assistant director of the Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, brought up the idea of a weekday market, Mrs. DeSalvo said.

The initial idea was to utilize a different location for the market, but "it's not very easy starting up a brand-new market," she said.

Instead, Mrs. DeSalvo said she asked her regular vendors if they would be interested in setting up shop an additional day each week.

"They thought that idea was terrific," she said, adding that most expressed a preference for Mondays.

The Lewis County Agricultural Society, which owns and operates the fairgrounds, then signed off on the mini-market idea.

"The more the fairgrounds is used, the better for the community and the fair," said Douglas P. Hanno, the nonprofit society's treasurer and Lewis County clerk.

If community response is positive, the Monday mini-market could be continued in coming years, Mrs. DeSalvo said.