Shop Local, Eat Fresh at the Saratoga Farmers' Market | Food, Crafts, Music in Saratoga Springs

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

40th anniversary

Move to High Rock Begins Cycle of Seasonal Growth

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Eggs and ham sizzling; vendors in flannel cupping cups of coffee; a ribbon cutting and the clang of a bell. These sights, smells, and sounds are markers of the Saratoga Farmers’ Market outdoor season at High Rock Park.

The market celebrates the start of its outdoor season at 9 a.m. Saturday, with a short step back to the past: acknowledgment of a City of Saratoga Springs commemorating the market’s 40th anniversary, welcomes from Mayor Meg Kelly and State Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, and introductions of some of the market’s original vendors.

Then the ribbon will be cut and the season will begin.

Going outdoors for farmers, home food producers, and other local creators of artisanal foods and crafts is like a seasonal ritual, transitioning the farming cycle away from the stored foods of winter and moving toward the new growth of spring and bounty of summer and fall.

“Farmers feed us,” says Anna Mae Clark, one of the market’s original vendors. “That’s something people sometimes forget.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is about feeding the body as well as the senses. The market is a producer-only market that ensures at least 70 percent of its vendors will be purely agricultural while also creating space for other local businesses to thrive.

The result is a community fest every Saturday morning and Wednesday afternoons that involves eating alongside entertainment and education about living in sync with the seasons.

This week, check out the big bags of spinach from Owl Wood Farm, $1 off. Visit Grandma Apple’s Cheesecakes and pick up two individual sized cheesecakes for $8, or $4.50 for one. And for your garden stop by Scotch Ridge Berry Farm, which will be among the vendors offering vegetable starts.

The market will have community tables and a free children’s activity as it does every week. Running the River will perform, as it does on the first Saturday of each month, helping to make music also a market staple.

“Knowing other is a means of helping one another when possible or when necessity occurs,” says Clark. “May we see 50 years, then 75 years and 100 years of operating as a farmers’ market.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park. Look for us on the new FreshFoodNY app. For volunteer opportunities, contact friends@saratogafarmersmarket.org.

Saratoga Farmers’ Market Gears Up for its 40th Year

By

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

 

Tomorrow marks the first Saratoga Farmers’ Market of 2018. It also rings in the market’s 40th year.

For many longtime vendors, the milestone marks a moment of pride. It affirms that the Saratoga Farmers’ Market mission of supporting Saratoga with fresh farm foods continues to thrive.

Farmers’ markets have deep roots in American society, dating back to Native American trading spaces. Markets all but disappeared after World War II, however, as a result of corporate agriculture and the arrival of national grocery store chains that taught consumers to prioritize convenience over freshness. By 1965, there were just six farmers’ markets in New York State.

The decline began to reverse in the 1970s. In 1976, the U.S. Congress passed a Farmer to Consumer Direct Marketing Act. The act authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide public money to states to promote direct marketing between farmers and consumers in ways that would be clean, healthy, and safe for all.

Two years later, the Saratoga Farmers’ Market was established, and area farmers began bringing plant seedlings and fresh produce to downtown Saratoga.

The first season was a challenge, as many longtime vendors recall, but persistence paid off and today farmers’ markets are becoming an increasingly important aspect of many communities and an important contributor to the economies of such small cities as Saratoga.

While the breadth of today’s Saratoga Farmers’ Market has changed considerably, its mission remains the same. Vendors sell fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, cheeses, maple syrup, honey, and an array of prepared goods. The overall market offerings also continue to be predominantly agricultural items grown or raised within four counties. Three-fourths of the items available at the market are agricultural.

This new year brings some changes. Rick Green of Ballston Lake Apiaries has hung up his beekeeper hat to enjoy retirement, along with Albert Sheldon of Sheldon Farms. Joining the winter market are several specialty food vendors who made their debut in the holiday market last month. And the market board recently voted to approve products from Warren County into its mix, expanding the base from four counties – Saratoga, Washington, Schenectady, and Rensselaer – to five.

Visit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Lincoln Baths Building in Saratoga Spa State Park; follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; and contact friends@saratogafarmersmarket.org for volunteer opportunities.