End of Season, 2011

I got to the Farmer’s Market at the last minute on its last day, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to find just three vendors. I got my half-bushel of Honey Crisp apples to last the winter, some cabbage and a few tomatoes, plus squashes and talked to them about next season as they packed up.

I had thought it was a little busier this year, and the vendors agreed that while Friday night was about the same as always, other nights had picked up business with more people cooking at home perhaps and looking for good quality fresh produce, really fresh. I had also noticed many other ethnicities and their attire, saris, kaftans, colorful skirts, turbans, and guessed at the languages recognizing Ukrainian and Polish and Russian, also Hindi, Farsi, German, what sounded like Finnish or Norwegian, and dialects of English from the British Isles.

This Farmer’s Market is the oldest in the area, opening right after World War II, with 40 vendors three nights a week at the height of the season. Farmers come from seven counties to be there. I wrote another article about it in September when it was busiest, and here’s a photo of what it normally looks like.