A summertime farmers market is the last place you would think about when it comes to Christmas, but green grocers made way for local craft makers selling seasonal gifts at the lower park in Lehighton Saturday.

"Today's been an awesome day. We have over 40 vendors here, our normal farmers market people are here, plus crafters of all type," said Bambi Elsasser of the Farmers Market Commission for the Lehighton Downtown Initiative.While making the rounds to check out fresh corn and local honey, shoppers could also take in a variety of specialty crafts and fit in some early holiday shopping - or perhaps just pick up some homemade goods for themselves."It was basically meant to make a special day for the farmers market in July," said Ryan Saunders, vice president of the Lehighton Downtown Initiative. "You've heard of Christmas in July with other events. We figured that it would be something interesting we could do for the Downtown Farmers Market, a fresh look in July, something for the people to come out and enjoy."Nancy Ward's stall featured her signature cloth wreaths, which she aims to bring back in vogue."They're something I made 45 years ago with a friend of mine. When I retired, I decided to bring them back and sell them. I've been doing them for about four years now," she said.And while Ward does have a great selection of Christmas wreaths, these decorations aren't limited to the snowy season."I've got Valentine's Day, Halloween, St. Patty's Day, Easter, plus a few things in-between. I try to do everything," Ward said.Vendors such as Light the Way, co-owned by Tiffany Labenberg and Jennifer Shupp, featured their full stock of candles, along with a few Christmas specialties. The business, which started as a hobby five years ago, utilizes a blended mix for a cleaner, longer burn, with a better scent. The home-blended colors and scents make for a unique gift."We do flower scents, natural scents, drink scents like Fuzzy Navels and Pink Sangrias. We also do Christmas scents just for the holidays, but since it's Christmas in July, we brought our Christmas scents. Our biggest seller for Christmas scents is always Bayberry," Labenberg said.Craft aficionados were pleased with the variety of locally produced, high quality products on display."We like craft shows, and we always wanted to come up here to the farmers market. We heard about Christmas in July, and we thought we'd check it out," Louise Koons said as she perused the Light the Way stall.Produce stalls were swarmed with customers seeking the freshest foods available, along with their handmade wares."Sales have been really good. I think this is the best day so far. Last week was a little slow, with the holiday, but it's been great today. We've sold out of a lot of things today. The corn has been popular, since this is the first weekend it's been available," Emma Conrey of Teprovich Family Farm said."We came out for Christmas in July, plus, we've been down every weekend to check out the produce. Everything looks good," Dawn Bowman said as she shopped the Teprovich stall.For those who happened to need a little cool-down without breaking out of the holiday mode, frozen hot chocolate was an incredibly popular treat throughout the day."It's great," Tristan Balliet, 4, said as he took a break from the beverage.While Christmas only comes twice a year, the Lehighton Downtown Initiative will be hosting several other themed events in the near future, including an old-fashioned day in the park in August, a flea market and yard sale in September, and a Rocktoberfest event benefiting the Breast Cancer Coalition in October."Next week, we're having the chef from St. Luke's Miners. He's going to be meeting everyone at 10 o'clock, and then taking them around the farmers market. They're going to be shopping, picking up produce and meats, and then they're going to go back to the tent and prepare the food, and they'll all get to eat," Elsasser said.