Submitted Photo Gus Potkovick is pictured with his popular hotdog stand at the Fredonia Farmers Market. Potkovick said he has been excluded this year from the market due to his political beliefs, though the board dispute that claim.

Gus Potkovick has been participating in the Fredonia Farmers Market since 2011, selling Sahlen’s hotdogs garnished with homegrown ingredients, including relish and peppers. He’s known for his signature hotdog, the Fredonia Hot.

Potkovick was not at the festival for a few weeks in 2012 as his contract had not been renewed, then came back for several years until 2020 when he did not participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now this year, he’s being excluded — and he’s not really sure why — though he has a guess. Potkovick has a suspicion that he is being left out because of his political beliefs.

“They’re looking for every loophole they can,” Potkovick said. “I’m being bullied out of the market. We teach our kids in school not to bully, and now the adults are out here bullying because maybe they don’t agree with my beliefs or maybe they just don’t like me.”

Potkovick, beyond selling hotdogs, is also the one who put up the Biden signs on Porter Road that became the topic of discussion in March. It’s for this reason that Potkovick thinks he’s being excluded.

When the farmers market rolled around last Saturday, Potkovick set up his stand across the street and sold hotdogs like nothing was wrong. He also said he talked to some of the vendors who were there, and they had no idea he was even kicked out.

“I’ve got a lot of friends down at the market,” Potkovick said. “After 10 years, you build a nice clientele base. It’s been kind of fun. I’ve had concerned people calling me asking me what’s going on.”

Potkovick claimed that the farmers market board lost his initial application, so he submitted another one with all accompanying forms. This time, he got a denial of his application, accompanied by a copy of the market’s rules and regulations, with sections seemingly highlighted by the Fredonia Farmers Market board, citing that Potkovick wasn’t complying with the rules, as his product was not 50% homegrown.

“I bet to argue the difference because my hotdogs have banana peppers, onions, and tomatoes in the bruschetta that are grown on my property,” Potkovick said. “The USDA farmers market regulations are 75% of the product, not by weight but by product, so putting all that on the hotdog, I’ve complied well and above.”

While Potkovick isn’t sure the farmers market follows the USDA guidelines in that aspect, he is sure that there are things being sold that don’t appear to comply with the cited reason keeping him away.

“Their farmers market sells jewelry, they sell stoves,” Potkovick said. “I don’t see too much jewelry being grown around here, and I don’t see too many stoves coming out of the ground. You can’t have both standards.”

Potkovick has been involved in the market since 2010. His contact was not renewed in 2012, for reasons he said are unbeknownst to him, but was reinstated after a few weeks following a meeting with then-Fredonia Mayor Stephen Keefe. Potkovick has his signature hotdog, the Fredonia Hot, trademarked and enjoys selling hotdogs to members of the community. And over the last few years, Potkovick notes that, to his knowledge, the farmers market rules have not changed.

The fact that the rules haven’t changed is something that was actually acknowledged by board member Tom Degolier, who noted that Potkovick has never been in complete compliance with the rules, but due to turnover, the rules had not been strictly enforced. Now though, the board is making an effort to crack down on the rules, which does not single out Potkovick.

“Since we incorporated the market, it has been a mess trying to figure out who does what,” Degolier said. “When Margaret Bruegel stepped out, she had so much responsibility, we had no clue what we had to do. We’ve been trying to put our vision into responsible hands. Nobody really enforced rules and regulations, nobody wanted to do that. This year, we decided we really needed to get on task with that. For example, very few vendors had insurance certificates, because they didn’t know they had to have it.”

In an email Potkovick was sent by the Fredonia Farmers Market Board, Potlovick demanded a copy of the rules and regulations from the market, which the board responded to by saying that a copy was mailed to him, and they have been in circulation online for the last six years. That response really made Potkovick question why he is now being excluded again.

“What’s changed for me?” Potkovick said. “I haven’t done anything different in 10 years. They have a clause in there that says they can allow or disallow anyone from the market. Why am I now suddenly not allowed? I followed and complied with every rule and the things they have set in their charter. “I’ve complied with every one of them for 10 years.”

That clause is made as a note at the end of the farmers market application, and states “The Fredonia Farmers Market Inc. reserves the right to select vendors and products most appropriate to a local Farmers Market and which best serve the mission of the Fredonia Farmers’ Market, Inc.”

Degolier said this is a clause that they have used for many vendors during the application process this season, not just Potkovick.

“We have rejected dozens of vendors, because their product doesn’t fit the market,” Degolier said. “It’s not just Gus.”

Degolier went on to say that, though he did do it this year, this is the first year Potkovick has filled out an application. When the market incorporated as a 501C6 in 2015, they came up with a whole new set of bylaws, rules, and regulations. In order to sell at the market, Degolier said that every vendor has to be a member, which requires that application, approved by the board. According to Degolier, Potkovick is the only one there that hasn’t been a member.

“He’s always sidestepped the membership,” Degolier said. “He hasn’t been a member the last several years. He throws money at the market manager and just shows up, leaving the rest of the board wondering how this happens.”

Degolier added that because of restrictions put in place by COVID-19, the market is not allowed to sell food for people to eat on the premises, on top of the other reasons cited as to why Potkovick isn’t allowed at the market.

“Everybody in here makes what they sell,” Degolier said. “It’s not his product to sell. If he was selling sausage or hotdogs that were produced locally, that would even be different. And to date, we can’t vend food for people to eat. We can give out samples but they have to be eaten off the premises.”

Potkovick said he’d be content if they provided him with what he felt was a legitimate reason, but the nature of other things sold makes him question the reasons he’s been provided.

“I don’t care what they sell at the market, but I don’t feel that I’m doing anything different than what anyone else is doing,” Potkovick said. “I thought a farmers’ market deals with vegetables. If you’re going to limit me because of my hotdogs, they should evaluate the other things being sold there.”

Meanwhile, Degolier said that they have no issues with Potkovick setting up across the street as he did last weekend, and his application to the market not being approved has nothing to do with his political beliefs, and is based on the content of his product.

“You can run a hotdog stand anywhere,” Degolier said. “He’s welcome to set up across the street. We didn’t care about that.”