Springfield Farmers Market—Small But Sweet

The Springfield Farmers market is open for business Mondays from noon to 6 pm. It's located in the Dayton parking lot during July and August. Once school re-opens it moves over to Ruby Park. This year there are several new vendors. In addition to vegetables, Springfield residents can pick up everything from bread and cheese to nuts at the local market. Even though it's a relatively small market, it's very active.

Patch recently met with Township Committeeman Marc Krauss to tour the market and see what was new.  When we were there on the 19th the place was hopping with many people turning out to purchase fresh produce and other delicious items on a hot day in July. Krauss told us that he has hopes that this is the first step in ramping up the market.

"It's doubled in size from last year," Krauss said. "We're offering more variety for Springfield beyond fresh vegetables. Change is slow but it's coming. We're working on getting the word out."

Krauss, wife Julie and son Judah are all farmers market enthusiasts. Julie told us "If I have the choice, I prefer to eat vegetarian.  I eat a lot of fish, Marc eats healthy dinners because of me."

We took our time looking around, first stop was Alstede Farms, a large operation that might be in more farmers markets than any other grower in the state. Renata Fortunova, 24 and Filip Rek, 23, both of Slovakia, were behind the cash register.  Rek told us that he would be here for three months, "My girlfriend worked here last year" he said, "This year I came too. She's working at Maplewood today." Fortunova added, "It's a nice job for a student."  Both had no problem with the language (or cash) differences.  Alstede offers all varieties of produce from apricots to zucchini with just about everything in between for healthy eating.

A new Springfield Farmers Market vendor is Hoboken Farms. Sales manager Joe Rocha, 23, told Patch that business is great, there are lots of Springfield customers and he feels very welcomed.  He mentioned that the company has plans to open a restaurant soon in Summit "Hoboken Farms Sandwich Market." Rocha suggests trying the best-selling lump crab cakes or the fresh mozzarella.  Along with a wide selection of fresh bread, Hoboken Farms also sells many prepared foods such as lemon chicken and ravioli, We bumped into Linda Donnelly, Township Clerk who highly recommends the chicken pot pie.

Gourmet Nuts and Dried Fruit rounded out the roster of new vendors. Sal Cocuzza, 19, was minding the shop. He told us that there were 40 to 50 different products all priced at ½ pound for $5.00, one pound for $9.00—the most popular being the butter toffee pecans.

A local pickle vendor is scheduled to sell at the Springfield Market, but was not there when Patch visited.