Sad, very sad. It's 3-6pm on two weekdays, in a parking lot downtown. Usually there are six to eight vendors, all with the same veggies and fruits, and definitely NOT cheap - earlier this week I paid almost three bucks for one tomato, and it wasn't even one of those monster ones. Once in a while one of the farmers will have cut flowers. Sometimes there's a honey-and-maple-syrup vendor (she doesn't come every week) and occasionally someone from a nearby bakery. A few times in the fall someone shows up with fresh pasture-raised pork, beef, and chickens, which are hideously expensive (like $20+ for a small chicken). No music, no prepared food, no crafts, it's very much a "get your stuff and get out" setup rather than a destination for hanging out and visiting. The one down in Portsmouth is a bit better, usually a couple dozen vendors on Saturday mornings, but it's almost 40 minutes away now (traffic gets hairy down there in the summer) and parking completely sucks even with handicapped tags. :-(

I'm jealous of yours!

golddust- that sounds lovely!

Our FM is on Wed mornings in a church parking lot until about 11am. 10-20 vendors all selling fair to midland produce and plants at an outrageous price. Some people sell baked goods that look delicious and reasonably priced, but I never have or will buy baked goods from the general public.

The only people you run into at ours are the church recruiters trying to convince you to come worship on Wednesday and Sunday.

golddust- I think I would much rather have a FM like yours in our area :)

When I lived in Santa Rosa, the FM was very much as golddust describes, although only once a week. The thing grew to the point that it took over all of downtown and was amazing.

Alas, out here in the eastern bay area the FM is very disappointing. One, maybe two food carts, one flower vendor a couple of vegetable stands, a couple of fruit stands, occasional honey person and a not really local bakery. Random others show up from time to time but there's no telling what will show up when. Fortunately, though the choices are small the offerings are good. One stone fruit seller with amazingly tasty stuff, a really good organiv veggies stand and once a month, a local winery shows up sampling and selling their amazing wines.

I just wish we had an egg seller/dairy/butcher person or persons.

When we lived in Rochester, there was a great FM downtown on the weekend. Just like golddust described. Tons of really fresh produce, dirt cheap. Fresh cut flowers and flowers in flats for planting. Lots of familiar faces. I particularly miss the vendor who sang about her sweet potato pies. She didn't shout, she sang. You never knew what you'd be heading home with from the FM.

Now that we live outside of Binghamton, FMs consist of just a few mostly overpriced vendors.

We have several farmers markets in the area (in the big city - where I work, not the rural area where we live). All have very good, fresh produce. There is a market that I have not visited yet in the revitalized down-town area (called market square) which does have shops, restaurants,etc. This market also sells flowers and other items in addition to produce. I'm not sure that it's a social thing like yours though. It's a big city so I don't think there would be as much running into those you know kind of thing. The place I frequent is coming out of the big city, closer to our little area. It is open every day, all day and the owner buys the produce from certain local farmers. He also sells eggs and some other dairy products, bulk spices, nuts, etc.

Our garden is starting to come in so I won't be frequenting the farmer's market as much.

Great prices, great produce at all of these sites.

tina

Where we both grew up -- Toronto -- and its surrounding cities, towns and counies had LOTS of farmers markets of all shapes and sizes. The largest ones were the permanent St. Lawrence Market and the Kensington market right in the heart of downtown. Amazing selection of the veggies/meat/crafts!

In the Kitchener/Waterloo farmers market -- the local Amish farmers were also there ..... We would pack the car with coolers every fall -- and go with our parents to "stock up" on the fall harvest -- and bring home ham, sausages, fresh eggs, pumpkins, veggies etc. Glorious way to spend a day!

Also -- in so many great spots along through Ontario.

Then we moved out to Vancouver -- we had the Granville market on the harbor (complete with music festivals and stage festivals too) -- AND the Lonsdale Quay market on
the northside harbor.

So -- in 1993 -- when we moved to Dallas -- I read about the downtown market. We packed up the car early (about 5:30a) and anticipated eating breakfast and lunch down there. When we arrived we couldn't even get a blasted coffee. One of the few vendors -- an elderly lady from New York (with the most amazing homemade bagels!) told us that they couldn't even sell us a cup of coffee because one man had bought ALL of the food rights for the area. Needless to say that we didn't go down very often. It has improved over the years. But it is still not a patch on real markets.

I was SO peeved -- that I wrote a long, long letter to the Dallas Morning News -- and told them to visit other markets -- and learn something about selling their own city.

We visit farmers markets where-ever we travel -- our favorite remains Pike Place Market in Seattle. You can smell the coffee beans roasting by 5 am. And by 9 am or so the garlic smell from the cooking lunches around the area is amazing! And the flower display in the spring and fall at the far end of the market is amazing!

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

We have a lot of local farm stands, but I don't really frequent them because they've gotten away from being local and are carrying out-of-state stuff.

We also have a Saturday Market with crafts, food, produce & plants. I'm proud to say that I was president of that market for years and participated in it from the beginning. When it started there were about 40 total vendors, but usually only 25 showed up each week. When I retired, we had 140 vendors and a sold out lot each week (over 100 spaces). Entertainment, on-site food, it is a gem. We started a Wednesday Market at a different site, in the downtown core, and it's now a fixture. Not as big as Saturday (space limitations) but a huge hit. I'm proud of the Market as I helped it grow from birth to it's teens, when I left, I felt like it was a child ready to leave the nest. It's HUGE now, even better than ever and I love it. EXCEPT...produce is not so great. Given our weather, we don't get a lot of variety, and stuff comes on later than other locations.

We're just starting to get local strawberries, and whooo-boy...they're expensive. Double what you'd pay at the supermarket for California (or Mexico) berries. Yeah, they definitely taste better, but at $18.00 for a flat that you can get for $4.99 at Costco...

Plants a very, very well priced, but again, selection isn't that great. Same old, except for one guy who has awesome unusual things. Local cheese, meat, breads, baked goods, eggs, seasonal fish (like Salmon), even wine now...if you're having an event, you can find great local stuff. Cut flowers are SUPER cheap.

I visited a FM in the area where I do my field work. The climate there is much different, so they had more variety and I was impressed with their veggie starts. But price-wise, on par with our Market. It's too bad, you'd think produce would be cheaper, but it DOES taste better.

There are a couple casual roadside farm stands near me. I occasionally stop in for some fruit or veggies, or greens for the holidays. The real FM we have is a hussling, bustling place and overall expensive (and good). Considered high-end shopping in the area.

I'm in Madison, Wisconsin. For years there has been a FM in the downtown area around the capitol building on Saturdays. It used to be the largest FM in the midwest, don't know if that's still the case. Depending on where we are in the growing season, there are loads of fresh fruits and veggies, honey, syrup, jams, meats, eggs, cheese (fresh cheese curds, yum!), baked goods, cut flowers and bedding flowers. There's a smaller version downtown on Wednesdays.

Over the years, other FMs have sprouted around the city and now we have several very nice FMs, although not nearly as large as the one downtown.

We don't have roadside stands in my area, but we do have a farmer's market "store" near our house that is open seasonally. They do bring in some produce from other locations in Texas and out of state, but what they offer is beautiful, and the prices just can't be beat. DH and I can walk out of there loaded down with produce, and have only shelled out $25 for all of it. I love that!

I live in LA, and we have dozens if not hundreds throughout Southern California. There's certified Organic markets, there's the markets in Alhambra that sell mainly Asian produce, there's the Santa Monica market where the high-end chefs shop....

Here is a link that might be useful: LA Farmers' Markets

laxsupermom:
I went to grad school in Binghamton. Back then they didn't even have a FM. "Twas a rather dismal city then as they were going through economic turmoil due to the loss of all the defense contracts and the massive IBM layoffs.

pesky1: Thank you thank you thank you for Saturday Market! I love that place so, so much. It's one of the things I miss most about Portland. Festival of the Last Minute was always my Santa Claus. Whenever we make it back up there a visit to the Market is a must.

We have lots of Farmers Markets in the Oakland/Berkeley area of N. California. Seems like there's a new one starting up at some location every month. Some are smaller, some huge with lots of food-to-go & crafts. Definitely NOT wanting for FMs around here...unfortunately except for the lower income neighborhoods which could really use one.

Do you have a Farmer's Market near you? What is it like?

Do we ever! Madison WI has the Dane Co. Farmer's Mkt:
"The largest producer-only farmers market in the country. All items are produced locally by the vendor behind the table. No resale allowed!"

June: Asparagus, Baby carrots, Beets, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Greenhouse cucumbers and tomatoes, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Maple syrup, Peas, Rhubarb, Salad greens, Strawberries, Zucchini

Also meats, cheese, preserves, honey, baked goods, flowers and plants...

The big mkt downtown is overwhelming and traffic and parking is a hassle, but we have several once- or twice-weekly smaller mkts around the area. Shopping on Saturday mornings is the highlight of my week.

-Lena

Here is a link that might be useful: Dane County Farmers Market

pbrisjar, the area has been weathering the IBM layoffs pretty well as IBM no longer has a sizable local workforce. There layoffs now number in the 10s when they happen, not the thousands as it used to be. The local economy has been able to absorb those jobs pretty well. The defense contractors had been doing gangbusters and hiring quite a bit up until recently. Lockheed took a huge blow this spring and the area is really feeling the loss of those jobs. I've seen for sale signs pop up around our neighborhood that are an indicator of how many high paying jobs the area has lost at Lockheed.

Pugga, sorry I missed your earlier post on Madison's FM.

This morning was foodie heaven! I bought honey and got to talk to the bee keeper about his bee breeding program, chatted with a produce farmer about the new lettuce varieties she is trying this year, exchanged recipes for marinated elk (!), and dropped off some egg cartons for another seller to reuse. I love knowing where our food is coming from, and even if it is a bit pricier than factory farming I am happy that my cash is going directly to the farmer/producer.

One of the local health insurance programs here in Wisconsin will subsidize up to $200 of produce shares with a local farm -- a great way to help community farmers and our own health.

-Lena

Here is a link that might be useful: Local Harvest

There are farmers markets all around the state on different days. There is a Saturday FM in Waverly and a Sunday one downtown Baltimore under the expressway. Both have been there for years. Much like Goldust describes. We go most Sunday mornings, tomorrow I am after more sour cherries! I have already made strawberry, cherry jams.
There is even a lobster truck from Maine that comes every week and pickles, cheeses, meats,french bakery, mushrooms. you name it its there!
We usually leave loaded down.

I should clarify our three FM per week. One is in downtown Grass Valley, five minutes away. There is another one in Nevada City, about ten minutes away. Then there is one at the Fairgrounds, about 7 minutes away.

Both towns shut off the streets to traffic and there's generally a couple areas with music. Always street dancing and the dining places move their tables into the streets. Of course there is the portable food places that sell all kinds of foods (Indian, Hippy, BBQ sandwiches.) The downtown FMs are held in the evenings, from 5:00 to about 9:00 PM.

The Fairgrounds holds an early morning FM, on Saturdays. Here, the fruit and veggies are cheaper and MUCH better than anything you can buy at the store.

I love those tiny tomatoes. I eat them like candy. YUM! Elephant garlic the size of my hand and so very fresh.

I have a local farmer who sells from his farm and he lives right up the road from me. Maybe two or three minutes. Summer is a great time for fresh food, huh?

No problem, Lena. I was glad to see a picture posted. It's such a pretty site for a market.

I live on the west side so I don't get to the downtown market as often as I'd like. I like the markets at Hilldale and Hill Farms. Great stuff but not as much fun as around the square!