Saratoga Farmers’ Market re-opened its
outdoor market at High Rock Park on May 1,
featuring roughly 60 farms and vendors with a
wide array of food, plants, and crafts produced
in the region.
The market unveiled a new plaque for the
center pavilion at High Rock Park that commemorates
the four individuals who helped
organize the market in the late 1970s.
“As longtime market customers have observed,
we have had successive generations of
farming families grow up at this market, and
continue their families’ farming legacy,” said
Charles Holub, president of Saratoga Farmers’
Market Association. “If you want to know who
your ‘buy local’ dollars support when you shop
at the market, come meet these families and
all our vendors, who are eager to share with
customers about their farms and products.”
This season’s twice-a-week outdoor market will offer a range of food–including vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, meat, poultry, eggs, baked goods including pastries, bread, cakes, pies, cookies, and other desserts, fresh and frozen prepared foods, hot and cold beverages, wine, peanut butter, salad dressing and pesto, handmade crackers and potato chips, granola, pickles and sauerkraut, honey, jam, yogurt, cheese and milk. It also has plants, flowers, handcrafts, and knife sharpening.
Many vendors come to both the Wednesday and Saturday markets, while others attend only one or the other.
New vendors and products at the Saratoga outdoor market this year include:
• Chris’s Kitchen – Perogies, pot pies, and other heat-and-eat entrees (Saturdays).
• Euro Delicacies – Ready to eat Mediterranean cuisine, including spanakopita, moussaka, and stuffed peppers (Wednesdays and Saturdays).
• Humiston’s Vegetables – Vegetable farm (Saturdays).
• Mariaville Mushroom Men – Many varieties of exotic mushrooms and mushroom tea (Saturdays).
• Mayhem Hollow Organic Farm – Pesto ( Wednesdays).
• Moma Made Salad Dressings – Salad dressing and marinade (Wednesdays).
• Oliva Vineyards – Red and white wine, including dessert wine (Saturdays).
• Talmadge’s Fruits & Vegetables – Produce farm (Saturdays).
• Vital Eats – Vegan salads and soups (Saturdays).
Once again, a large hospitality tent on the north lawn of the park will provide market customers a range of ready-to-eat and take-out selections on both market days. Picnic tables make the tent a good place to enjoy a meal and rest.
At every market session, local musicians will perform, ranging from folk and bluegrass to harpists and drumming ensembles.
Local nonprofit organizations may display information at the twice-weekly market sessions through arrangements with the market’s information booth coordinator. Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardeners will provide free lawn and garden advice during the first several market sessions.
To make it easier to make multiple purchases at the market and transport them to a parked car, Friends of the Market provides a wagon service on Saturdays.
“It’s important that the community knows that the market accepts several types of nutrition assistance program benefits,” said Holub. “Customers can swipe their electronic benefits (EBT) card at our transaction table to use their SNAP benefits (food stamps), and receive tokens for use throughout the market.
Also, some of our vendors are authorized to accept fruit and vegetable vouchers distributed through the WIC program and the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program.”
WIC farmers’ market vouchers are available through Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council at 288-3232; for eligible senior citizens seeking fruit and vegetable vouchers, the contact is the Saratoga County Office for the Aging at 884-4100.
The Saratoga Farmers’ Market operates twice a week at High Rock Park, on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 3-6 p.m.
Saratoga Farmers’ Market Association maintains a “producer-only” standard for all of its markets, requiring vendors to grow or produce their goods in Saratoga, Schenectady, Rensselaer, or Washington counties to ensure that products are fresh and unique, not purchased for re-sale.
More information at www.saratogafarmersmarket.org as well as on Facebook.
Photo Courtesy Saratoga Farmers Market Association