27 Years of Waltham Farmers' Market

WALTHAM, MA — The birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing, and the sun is (mostly) shining. Summer is around the corner and the Waltham Farmers' market is getting ready to host farmers and food vendors galore just as they have for the past three decades.
And yet, says cofounder Marc Rudnick, some people still don't know about it.
"The thing that always amazes me about the farmers' market, is that we live in a city of 60,000... and most people don't know we exist. Even after 27 years in our very downtown location," said Rudnick who is still on the steering committee for the market.

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Back in 1991, downtown Waltham was sort of a depressing place, Mood Street was made up of mostly empty storefronts, Rudnick remembers. The once classy Grover Cronin's department store was an abandoned hulk with broken windows.
"It was just an uninviting place," said Rudnick.
A number of people in the city were trying to figure out a way to revitalize the area. At the same time, he and some buddies were hoping to start a food co-op. But they struggled with trying to find a space to do so. They ultimately gave up the idea of having a physical space.
"We stumbled across the idea of starting a farmers' market," he remembers. "We couldn't make our co-op get off the ground, and the city was working to find a way to revitalize the downtown so we combined the two and got started largely with a mission to help bring people back downtown."

They invited community members to come meet farmers and shop locally in 1991 in a parking lot, where the parking garage behind the movie theater behind Pine Street currently sits.
At the time, there were about eight to 10 vendors who set up shop. Since then, the global market around local food has really taken off, said Rudnick.
"What seemed unusual and exotic at the time, has really become a significant source of good food for people," he said.
Today the market has about 1,000 regular customers and some 80 vendors.
As the market grew and changed location several times - from Embassy Park, to One Moody Street to Clark - its mission has transformed.
"A very strong part of what our mission is about is supporting local agriculture," said Rudnick.
But as farmers' markets grow in popularity the market has had to figure out how to adapt to such competition.
"One our biggest problems right now is there is too many farmers' markets," he said. When the West Newton market opened same day, it didn't crush the long established Waltham Farmers' Market, but it did have an effect since a number of its customers live in Newton.
"While we all love each other at these farmer's' markets, the dynamic is difficult to work with," he said.
Waltham has focused on helping people meet the folks who produce the food they eat.
"Over and over again we hear that what people really want is a personal interaction. And that's the strength of the Farmers' Market. Vendors who are really successful are the ones that have a fan base. They have that personal connection," he said.
There are several new vendors this year including someone selling pierogies, someone selling Acai berry products. There will be a jerk bar, where a guy is dishing out Jamaican jerked chicken and other Jamaican specialties, they are also bringing a French baker this year for the first time.
In the last couple of years the market has introduced the SNAP food voucher program. Snap recipients shop at the market pretty regularly, says Rudnick. But because the cost of most farmers' items are a bit more the market has developed a way to help encourage folks who take part in the snap program to see it as an opportunity. So with the help of the First Parish Unitarian and the First Lutheran church they've been able to double the value of food vouchers.
"We've raised all the money for that match from those two church communities this year," said Rudnick.
And there have been vendors, like Dicks Market Garden farm that have been there since the beginning.
"It's just unbelievably rewarding. It's just a wonderful gathering place," said Rudnick.
Check out when this year's farmers' market opens and get parking details here.

Photo courtesy of Rudnick. Got a news tip about Waltham? Email Jenna.fisher@patch.com