Lyme — After months of planning, the Lyme Farmers Market will reopen under a new team of organizers Saturday morning at Ashlawn Farm and continue every Saturday through Oct. 8.

In typical fashion, the market won't have a festival-like opening, nor will animals parade in costume, said Chip Dahlke of Ashlawn Farm.

Instead, visitors can enjoy sitting at the farm and buying food, while children say hello to the goats and watch the horses. 

Dahlke, who has run the market for the past 14 years, is "passing the baton" to new market masters and a board of directors, but is happy to still be the market's landlord, he said.

Mark and Alisa Mierzejewski of Burgis Brook Alpacas of Canterbury, who will be the new market masters, said they felt the market was a great event for the community and was worth continuing after Dahlke announced that the market would have its last run in the 2015 season.

The Mierzejewskis, who sell alpaca products, honey and gourmet garlic, had fallen in love with the bucolic setting of the market, which is located on a farm, unlike most other markets.

"A few of us got together with his guidance to rekindle that spirit," said Mark Mierzejewski.

The Lyme Farmers Market Inc. stands as a nonprofit with a board of directors, according to a news release.

The market masters schedule vendors and coordinate the market field with Melissa Punzalan, a jewelry designer, the release states.

The market will feature about 30 vendors selling vegetables and fruit, olive oil, bread, smoothies, hand-crafted goods and soap, among other items.

Mark Mierzejewski said that "as a farmers market, we try to keep it diversified and mainly focus on food and local suppliers to the community."

Mary Stone of Old Lyme, the chairwoman of the board of directors, said the market is the only one in New London County and one of the few in Connecticut held on a working farm.

“It’s really a community gathering place for Lyme and Old Lyme,” Stone added. “We’re fairly far flung and rural, and this is one of the places we can see our neighbors and have great conversations fueled by great food.”

Dahlke said that while he didn't like to impose rules and saw the field as a blank canvas, visitors should know that this year there will be rules, including no vaping.

"I had to find out what vaping is," Dahlke said, after he read the rules.

But though Dahlke has poked fun at kale in his newsletter, the "no kale rule" likely will be relaxed this year.

As the market opens for the season, Dahlke said he has ordered that no one wake him up before 10 a.m. and he plans to walk around like Clark Kent.

"I'm just going to be invisible, and that's it," he said. "I'm going to enjoy every minute of not having to tell people where the porta potties are."

The farmers market will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays from June 4 through Oct. 8 at Ashlawn Farm, 78 Bill Hill Road. Admission and parking are free.

Visitors are asked to park in the field across from the market, according to the news release.

More information is available at www.thelymefarmersmarket.com.

k.drelich@theday.com