The Lansdale Farmers' Market

[Mary Jones]

Earlier this summer, Lansdale (where I live) started a farmers' market. Why they hadn't had one before is a little beyond me, since we're surrounded by farmland up here, both large agribusiness (i.e. Hatfield Meats, Rosenberger Dairy) and smaller, family farms. For all its faults, Pennsylvania does have a lot of good farmland.

Well, someone apparently thought as I did, and actually did something about it.

I love farmers' markets. When I was a kid, living in Fairmount, my mom would always take us to the Reading Terminal on Saturday mornings (so much for watching The Smurfs, but at least we got those Amish pretzels...). When I was a teenager in Gilbertsville, my friends would hang out at Zerns--which, of course, is also part flea market. I love eating food that's not just in season, but was probably picked if not that morning then at most the day before.

The market seems to average around fifteen vendors; mostly fruits and vegetables, but there's also the Cardinal Hollow Winery (a local winery based in North Wales), a couple of bakery stands selling bread and pastries, and an Indian-based stand, selling clothing, jewelry, but most importantly, samosas. Mmm. Fresh preserves--jams, jellies, and picked vegetables--are also on sale, including the elusive pepper relish (great on tuna). Ultimately, other than the novel (in PA) addition of the wine vendor, it's your standard small town farmers' market, minus any meat products (given that it's outdoors).

But there's one problem. Even though the market's been a success, owners of businesses on Main Street are complaining that the market... Of course, Main Street has seen several stores close, in part because of the recession (and in part because of the general die-off that small towns everywhere have experienced for the past thirty years). It's hard to imagine the small amount of traffic from the farmers' market is so dramatically driving down sales for the few hours it's open a week, that the borough should move it to an out-of-the-way location. Lansdale's downtown is dying because a) people go up to the box stores in Montgomeryville, and b) who has money these days? it's a bloody recession, remember? We've lost two supermarkets, two clothing stores, a spice store, and a couple of restaurants. And that's just what I can remember off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more.

So I worry about the market. I worry that Lansdale will move it "out of the way", driving customers away, because of these complaints (which, judging by the response to the story in the paper, no one believes). I can only hope that the borough council sees how popular the market is, how it is doing more to help revitalize this town than any of their other improvement projects seem to. I hope the market stays where it is. Hell, I just hope it stays.


The Lansdale Farmers' Market--at least for now--is located on Main Street, at the plaza across from the train station. It's open Saturdays from 9 am to 1 pm, but come early before everything is picked over.