CHUBBUCK — The Chubbuck Farmers Market will open a full month early this year at a new location in the City Hall parking lot, and the Pocatello Food Truck Round Up will join the vendors to make the event a bigger draw.

Chubbuck City Hall is located at 290 E. Linden Ave. Ellen Loomis Roberts manages both the Chubbuck Farmers Market, hosted on Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and the Portneuf Valley Farmers Market, hosted on Saturday mornings at the Historic Downtown Pocatello Pavilion.

Loomis Roberts explained the Chubbuck Farmers Market, which was launched in 2020 in the lot at Geronimo’s, 423 E. Chubbuck Road, previously opened for the season in May. This year, however, she’ll experiment with starting the season on April 6, featuring crafters and food trucks before the first garden starts are ready.

“I think the new spot at (Chubbuck) City Hall is going to be amazing,” Loomis Roberts said, adding it’s close to both Chubbuck Road and Yellowstone Avenue. “It will be a great way to introduce the citizens of Chubbuck to City Hall. I think in conjunction with the Food Truck Round Up it’s going to do quite well.”

The Portneuf Valley Farmers Market will open on May 7. Loomis Roberts explained all of the Portneuf Valley vendors are eligible to sell at the Chubbuck market, but this will be the first year that vendors will be allowed to register for the Chubbuck market only.

She explained the Portneuf Valley market has reached its quota for crafters, and the Chubbuck market provides an ideal venue for new crafters. Loomis Roberts said the Portneuf Valley market is still accepting farmers, who represent the core vendors.

Loomis Roberts said the Chubbuck market was a hit in 2020, though attendance waned in 2021 after it had to be moved further way from Chubbuck Road.

Loomis Roberts said a big reason for the early start to the Chubbuck market is that the food truck vendors wanted to get a jump on the season.

Kim Zenger, who runs the Grandma’s Pantry Pocatello food truck, founded the Pocatello Food Truck Round Up two years ago.

“We did it because of COVID because a lot of food trucks were struggling. A lot of them worried how they were going to make ends meet,” Zenger said. “We decided to get all of the food trucks together and everybody help each other out.”

The plan worked. Zenger said her own sales usually triple when she’s with the Pocatello Food Truck Round Up, and other food truck owners have turned down competing events in order to participate.

Zenger said 10 trucks have already committed to participate in the Chubbuck market on Wednesdays, and she’s still waiting to hear from other food truck operators.

On Mondays from 4 p.m. to dark, beginning on April 4, the Food Truck Round Up will be stationed at the downtown pavilion, 420 N. Main St. Zenger said 15 food trucks have already committed to being at that location.

Zenger sees great potential for the Chubbuck market, which she said will offer a fun and relaxing family environment, often with live music.

“I think it’s going to be a great location for the food trucks,” she said. “We’ll benefit the farmers market and the farmers market will benefit us. It will be a destination essentially. People will come to shop and come to get food, and you don’t have to worry about somebody wanting Mexican and somebody else wanting comfort food.”