PFM recently interviewed vendor Julie Glaze Gorman and asked her to tell us more about herself and Wild Iris Coffee.
Tell us where you’re from and a little bit about yourself.
I was born in Kansas but was raised originally in Kansas City, Missouri. My parents along with my older sister and I moved progressively west, from Missouri to Kansas to Colorado to Arizona! I have been here in Arizona since 1985 with the exception of about 2 years when I lived in New Mexico and in Atlanta, Georgia. I moved to Prescott with my children when I married my husband, David in 2004. Prescott is my favorite place to live in Arizona.
What do you sell at your booth?
We sell our cold brew coffee (toddy), hot drip coffee and and several of our favorite house-made pastries. We serve our coffees with specialty creamers that we make exclusively for the farmers market from scratch each week.
How long have you had your business and how long have you been a vendor at PFM?
We have been in business at our brick and mortar coffeehouse in downtown Prescott since November of 2007, nearly 12 years now! This is our second year as a vendor at the Prescott Farmers Market.
I’ve always meant to ask you about the name of your booth. Why “Wild Iris Coffee”?
I have always been horrible about naming things, even my children went nameless for about a week until their names were decided on by family and friends! So when it came time to name our coffee house I left the naming up to David. He knew I wanted to honor my great aunt Jacquie because she has always been such an important part of my life and our children’s lives. My aunt had been an iris aficionado and grew them in her gardens my entire life. In fact, the irises in our courtyard were planted by her before she passed. But it wasn’t until David went on a mountaineering trip and came across a field of wild irises that it struck him that was to be our name.
Tell us about how you get ready for the market.
We start the prep process on Tuesdays by making our creamers, then on Thursdays we start our batches of cold brew because they have a long steep time and then Friday evenings we make our coffeecakes and brownies and Saturday mornings our baker bakes off our scones.
What’s special about your business?
I think the most special thing about our business besides the great coffee and house-made pastries, of course, are the connections that people make with each other. I have seen our old employees maintain the friendships they made with each other years later. We have watched our customers develop friendships and connections and a few of the blind dates have turned into marriage proposals! Coffeehouses have always played a role in getting people who may not otherwise meet, get to know each other and realize that we all have something in common. I really believe in the importance of human connections that are made in person, in real life!
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Julie and her staff have made lots of friends at PFM.
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Stop by to say hello and make new friends!
What are your plans for the future?
Well, we hope to be a vendor when the Prescott Farmers Market has a permanent location! We are also looking forward to using our teardrop trailer as our “to-go” window during the weekdays at the shop.
Do you vend at any other markets?
Prescott Farmers Market is the only farmers market we vend at, but you can also find us at our brick and mortar coffeehouse at 124 South Granite Street Suite E Prescott, AZ 86303 daily from 6 AM to 8 PM.
How can we find you on social media?
You can find us on Facebook and Instagram and our website.
