Local Farmer's Markets
 

Sorry if this is a duplicate, I did search...

I have a few local markets to pick from. This thread is being started to hopefully compile a nice "global" type list.

1. Central Market, York, PA
http://www.centralmarkethouse.com/

2. Lancaster Farmers Market, Lancaster, PA
http://www.fandm.edu/departments/tdf...Site/FSet.html

Yes, I am in Amish territory as well. Hard to beat the fresh chickens, pork, baked goods and canned items. The Lancaster market has a funky mix of coffee shops, Middle East, Carribean and assorted other foodstuff vendors. Both are historic sites and truly reflect America before the McDisneyization of our great nation.


Other favorite markets include:

3. West Side Market, Cleveland, OH
4. The Strip District, Pittsburgh, PA

G

Dallas TX Farmers Market & Hilo Hawaii Farmers Market

Best Farmers Market in the USA?
 

Subject says it all.....Any Farmers Markets in the USA that you can highly recommend?

Union Square in NYC (14th street area). They have the market 3 or 4 days a week.

Santa Monica (LA) on Saturdays.

Santa Monica on Wednesdays

Not a farmers' market per se
 

but I always like the Italian market in Philly.

I'd have to second the Union Square market in New York. Just went there today for the last time in awhile since I'm moving to the burbs :( The best time to visit is in the fall when these amazing grapes are sold. Varieties I haven't seen anywhere else.

I went to a cool, small farmer's market in Healdsburg, California in Sonoma County once. Great looking summer fruits. Can you tell I like fruit? My wife has been trying to get me to eat less of it for our entire relationship since I eat fruit so often.

Another one I liked was in Quebec City. Was there in late summer one year when they had fabulous berries.

The best fruit I ever had came from a farmer's store between Yosemite and San Francisco...though it wasn't part of a whole farmer's market just a free-standing store. I can't remember the name of the small town.

Except when Mr. Weller is driving about.
:rolleyes:

Downtown Rutland, VT, every Saturday morning in the summer. Fabulous stuff AND people-watching.

Madison, WI is simply awesome.

I miss the potato donuts...

The Los Angeles & San Francisco Farmers Markets are my favorites.

No contest, winner by a mile, Pike Street Market in SEA.
mike

A year ago, we happened upon a small, fun one in Oceanside, CA.

er, try the u district farmer's market sat. 9-2 50th and unv. way --accessible by busses 71,72,73,74.....

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West Seattle Farmer's Market -- sunday, 10-2 at the junction

Santa Fe farmer's Market -- yum, good goat cheese

Oakland Farmer's Market -- Fridays

Sunday Farmer's Market at Dupont Circle in Washington DC.

Old Town, ME farmer's market -- Saturday AM.

Berkeley Farmer's Market -- a bit too, well, Berkeley

lala

San Diego on Wen in Ocean Beach not bad,they shut down part of Newport Ave

My favorite farmers market: Depot Parking Lot, Rutland, VT, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. every Saturday in temperate weather. We stock up on fresh veggies, homemade baked goods, jams, jellies, syrups, etc., every Saturday en route to our weekend place in Killington. A feast!

agree, hilo wed and sat

santa monica wednesday. for straight organic produce, sans frills, this is fantastic. huge crowd.

san francisco ferry bldg. tues and sat. didn't expect it to be that good, but it is. best dried fruits too. lots of attidude , but hey it's sf.

Union Square Farmers Market

The farmer's market on the square in Madison, WI. There is an indoor one nearby in the winter, but it's the summer one that's really amazing, with something like 300 vendors.

Farmer's market in Houston
 

Parking lot of Chef Monica Pope's restaurant, T'afia. Open in the summertime. Chef Pope has done great things for local suppliers in Texas...similar to the Alice Waters' Chez Panisse model. High quality foodstuffs, prepared with respect. Made the Bon Appetit magazine list of "50 hot restaurants" or something like that in the April 05 issue.

I hear there is an artisan market in Market Square, DT HOU, North of the new Calpine building (717 Texas), but I've never been there.

I was also reading in the HOU Chronicle that there is a meat market that sells live animals and butchers on site...an antidote for cello-wrapped McFood..also if you're halal or kosher..I'll try to scrounge the cite if anyone is interested. Probably a good source for making your own boudin noir....

Is Union Square year-round?

Your Dekalb Farmers Market (just outside of Atlanta) is quite the experience. The "No Photography" signs when you walk in are always a nice touch ;)

The great part is the live fish tanks - you wait for your number to be called, pick out your fresh fish, and tell them if you want steaks or filets.

Santa Monica Farmer's Market is the best. All of the great chefs from Los Angeles visit this one. Do yourself a favor and go to a good restaurant on a Wednesday or Thursday night in L.A. for the very best vegetables. On the other hand, you might want to skip dining on Tuesday nights when the veggies are not as good.

The Hollywood(Ca.)farmers market is wonderful.Sunday morning people watching,noshing,shopping(I get a lot of gifts for folks here)and the general vibe is great.

Eastern Market in Detroit always had some cool things when I was in town.

San Francisco/Bay Area Farmers Markets
 

Great farmers market at the Ferry Building, at the base of Market Street:

www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com

Other Bay Area farmers markets:

http://www.sfgate.com/food/farmersmarkets/

^ ^ http://www.hilofarmersmarket.com/

A nice size, parking is never very difficult, and there are lots of interesting places to eat within a couple of blocks.

How about a few of my favorites in Central California:

Thursday Night Farmers Market in San Luis Obispo

Old Town Clovis Friday Night Market
Clovis Market Photos

Yep, it's year-round, although the pickings not surprisingly get slimmer during the winter. It's Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (don't know how the earlier days are during the winter, though).

I'm very excited to check out the Ferry Building in San Francisco during my trip in late April!

When I rented an apartment in VCE, my "local farmer's market" was The Rialto. IMHO, it just doesn't get any better than that.

I was so thrilled to see the Union Square Market as I was walking over for the Subway from whre I was on Friday. Got me some fresh pork cuttlets, organic baby bok choy, fresh ****ake mushrooms, and some grass for the cats, which they totally ignored.

It made for one hell of a lunch on Saturday. I never thought they would be there this time of year, and indeed the food pickings are way slimmer then in the summer, but still very good. Tons of flowers too, mostly spring bulbs.

We hit the Greenwich Connecticut one most every Saturday, and I'll be a regular at the Union Suare now until that opens.

Redlands, California
 

Farmers Market on Thursday night, begins at 6:00 pm, State Street. Small town atmosphere.

oops, forgot to mention (and nobody else did) palm springs on thursday evenings (like 6-10). they close palm cyn. entertainment, traditional farmers mkt. plus art, cooked food. very nice.

i'll take this thread and paste it into a farmers market word document in my travel folder. so before next trip i'll have a peak. always so fun to sample (and perhaps take home) what is growing locally. we snagged at least 20 lbs of yummy dried fruit from the sf ferry bldg recently, and are still enjoying it, while being reminded of the trip.

Santa Monica's Arizona Ave. has a market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.

And it looks like the roads are still safe from Russ Weller for now:

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4300071/detail.html

there is also one on Sundays next to Main Street and one *at* SMO too:

http://santa-monica.org/farmers_market/

Westwood (by UCLA) has one on Thursdays:

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/db/is...s.farmers.html

Houston has a few pretty decent farmer's markets. Sadly, the one on Airline had a pretty serious fire last year. It's supposed to have (mostly) recovered, though. Can't find a link to it.

But there's also one run out of Monica Pope's new restaurant, T'Afia. Great place to eat in Houston, and the farmer's market is good, if small. Check it out at www.tafia.com.

Santa Cruz, California: more organic farms than anywhere else
 

What a timely topic for me to have just discovered. I have the good fortune to live in Santa Cruz, which has about 30% more organic farms than Fresno, though we are smaller in area and population by about a third. I think that means we probably have more organic (not to mention sustainable, equally important) farms than any county in the United States. It is truly a paradise here, and Santa Cruz county farmers supply produce to some of the biggest name chefs in the region (and some to restaurants much farther away).

There are two major farmers markets year-round:

Wednesday afternoons (2:30-6:30 PM) in downtown Santa Cruz, at the parking lot at Lincoln and Cedar.

Saturday mornings (8 AM - Noon) at Cabrillo College on Soquel Drive in Aptos, at the"Upper Campus," just south of the Park Blvd. exit. This is my favorite market of the week, as it's not quite the hippie/patchouli fest that the downtown market is, but I do like them both. Favorite booths: Bill the Oyster Man ($10 for a dozen oysters as big as a dog's tongue; he's at both of these markets, as well as the Sunday market in downtown Los Gatos, over the hill towards Silicon Valley), Live Earth Farm, New Natives (oh, I love pea shoots!), Dirty Girl Farm, Happy Boy Farm, Route One Farm, and the best chai I've ever had at Malabar Trading Company (only on Saturdays at Cabrillo).

We have a number of markets open May through October as well, including a Thursday afternoon market in the heart of Capitola village, a block from the ocean. There is also a sweet little market with some of my favorite farms on Sunday mornings in East Cliff Village (15th and Portola Drive).

Tuesdays and Fridays, the UCSC Farm & Garden has a market at the corner of Bay and High streets, at the base of the UCSC campus.

I just last week started a photography/written blog about small farms, starting in Santa Cruz but branching out. I love farms and farmers markets. I'll be traveling to New York next month, visiting some farms around there, and then to England this summer, though visiting farms is not my primary reason for travel.

It's a labor of love, completely. SmallFarmsBlog.com is the address that will take you to the Typepad site. Please feel free to send me your own links to things related to small farms: I'm starting on a modest scale but intend to be a resource for people who care about these things. I am a professional food photographer with some chefs and restaurants as clients, and I know one thing: behind every good chef is at least one great farmer. The farms are just so beautiful.

A list of farmers markets all around Santa Cruz, down to Monterey, Salinas, etc.

Great topic: thanks for posting!

I wondered if SLO would draw mention. It's great!

Anyone know anything about Pleasanton CA on Saturday mornings?

Findlay Market in Cincinnati
 

My all-time favorite. Used to shop there while in college. Year-round, although of course produce was better in Spring/Summer/Fall. Excellent deli, dairy, and bakery products year round. In rather decrepit part of the city though, an area called "Over-the-Rhine."

Tradition was, might still be, that baseball opening day ceremony/parade started at Findlay Market.

Best Seafood Market in Sydney, Australia
 

For something that's outta this world... the best and freshest seafood comes from The Sydney Fish Market in Australia.

http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/

I've just been there recently and the seafood is amazing. Tried the Sydney Rock Oysters (EXCELLENT & CHEAP), grilled baramundi, BBQ octopus... ^ ^

Truly outta the world experience. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! :D

Not surprisingly, a lot of CA towns and cities listed. Tracy, in the San Joaquin valley, had a nice saturday morning farmers market downtown when I lived there 6 years ago.

Unfortunately, the downside of being surrounded by groves and fields is major allergy problems. Never figured out if it was the plums, nectarines, almonds, cherries or what. Seems like something was always throwing out pollen.