Market Opens Grandly!

This past Thursday marked the grand opening of the Mt. Airy Village Farmers' Market and people were out in full-force to take in the sights and sounds of our awesome market. We had food, crafts and live music which translated into a good time had by all. This is how we want to do it throughout the season so if you missed one, don't worry - we will be back next week for you. Just to wet your appetite, here is some of what you missed -

Sorbello Girls brought their usual cadre of Strawberries but also had some new and exciting produce for public procurement. Along with some of the sweetest (and earliest) cherries ever to be found west of Germantown Ave., a new and unusual berry adorned their table. The Saskatoon Berry, native of Canada and Alaska, has found it's way to Mullica Hill New Jersey via a Canadian berry grower and neighbor of the Sorbellos. Subsequently, Mt. Airy has been invaded by this blueberry lookalike. The patrons of the market didn't seem to mind though - these berries were sold out well before close of market. There is a strong chance they will make one more appearance next week and with their high amount of antioxidants and equally high amount of flavor, we will keep our fingers crossed for their arrival.

Weavers Way Farm also had much to offer in the way of fresh produce. Their table teemed with Lacinato Kale, Kohlrabi, Salad Mixes, Arugula, and other greens to entice the Mt. Airy faithful. If you are into local food, it doesn't get much more local than Weavers Way Farm. It is about two miles from the farm to the farm stand on Thursdays. In other words, their produce grows within walking distance of the market. Talk about a locavore's dream.

Devin is the one on the left. 

A craft vendor made her first appearance at market this week. Devin McNutt of Saffron Creations was on hand with her jewelry made from repurposed tin. Devin takes recycling to an art from, literally; she takes things that would otherwise been thrown away and turns them into treasures. We hope to see Devin again and judging by her positive reaction to the market and the patrons positive reactions to her, we will!

Finally, we get to the music. From the beginning to market's end, the patrons and vendors were regaled with the dulcet tones of Weavers Way staffers Ian Zolitor and Bill Quern, who played guitar and mandolin respectively (we also saw Bill playing an accordion...nice). They sang too, which made the market patrons dance and the vendors smile and everybody enjoyed the market even more. We expect to have both of them back this season so get your autograph books ready!

The foot traffic at this market has increased steadily in the last three weeks. Hopefully this trend continues so more vendors can be added. With offerings like what we had at the grand opening, it's almost inevitable that more and more people will want to find out what's going on on Carpenter and Greene on Thursday afternoons.