Farmers' Market Season Starts Saturday!

It's about more than shopping fresh and local: our Farmers' Market is an experience that can't be missed. gets transformed on Saturdays through pre-Thanksgiving into a bustling community hub of live music, recipe-sharing, kids playing, conversation, and of course amazing food.

Good news for those who anxiously wait the start of the season: tomorrow (Saturday, May 26) is opening day and this year's market has more vendors than ever. Affable host, Ulrich Figge, will be the market manager again this year.

Loyal shoppers will be happy to know that many favorite vendors will be back:

Gajeski Produce – of Riverhead. Our popular Long Island farmer Brian Gajeski will be doling out big produce and every vegetable growing from summer greens and sweet corn to fall squash.

Meredith’s Bread – of Kingston, homemade pies, breads, rolls, cakes, cookies, preserves. Baked goods also available in sugar-free, wheat free, gluten free, and organic.

Pickle Licious – with a storefront in Teaneck, NJ, home of “olde time New York style barrel pickles with a bite” as well as olives and other pickled treats.

Maura and Nuccia – an authentic Italian baker right here in Tarrytown. Maura operates out of her home, making artisan Italian pies (crostate), biscotti and more with fresh and natural ingredients.

Mead Orchards – of Tivoli, this fruit orchard and veggie farm in the mid-Hudson offers up bins of apples, peaches, pears, plums, berries, honey, cider, sauce, greens, summer vegetables and more.

Tierra Farm – of Valatie, roaster and producer of organic nuts, seeds, dried fruits, butters and mixes (from a peanut-free facility upstate). Also, fair trade coffee and chocolate.

Orchards of Concklin – of Pomona, with plants, fruits, veggies, cider, cider donuts, eggs, honey and more from Rockland County.

Amazing Real Live/Chaseholm Creamery – of Pine Plains, purveyor of artisanal cheeses and priobiotic products like “old world style” camembert, firmer Queso Blanco, soft and spreadable fresh-herbed farmer's cheeses.

Bread Alone – of Boiceville, people line up for this bread made by hand with organic grains, in a variety of shapes and styles, also granola and seasonal pies.

Brookside Farm – of Gardiner, an old-fashioned farm bringing to the market: grass-fed beef, free range eggs, broilers, pork (Large Blacks and Berskhire hogs), and more.

Along with some fabulous new editions – mushrooms! honey! seafood! – making this year bigger than last:

Madura Farms – of Middletown, this Orange County vegetable farmer will bring coveted mushrooms to our market with great names like: king oyster, enokitake, piopinni, shitake, pompom, portabella, beech, crimini, maitake and more.

American Pride Seafood – of Holbrook, Long Island, fresh from the harbor and new to our market: fish! Fresh caught ocean fish and freshly harvested shellfish. Note: they will not be there opening weekend but will start on the following Saturday, June 2.

Hudson River Apiaries – of Verplanck, bee products (raw honey, blueberry honey, more varieties of honey), candles, soaps.

Warwick Valley Winery – of Warwick, winery and distillery nestled between two mountains in the Hudson Valley with delicious Doc's Draft Ciders and more.

Live music on tap for Saturday: Rocky Maio and his band Different Drum.

So let the catch phrase of the season begin: “See you at the market!”

The market is brought to us by Community Markets, a company that produces 15 farmers markets in the region. Market starts Saturday, May 26 ^th and runs every Saturday through November 17 ^th , 2012, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm, rain or shine, wind or snow; Patriot’s Park on N. Broadway (Route 9) Street address: 183 North Broadway. For more information visit: communitymarkets.biz or contact Frankie Rowland: frowland@communitymarkets.biz or (914) 923-4837. Note that not all vendors are weekly, so the line-up will change some from week to week.