Getting Fresh

The Eighth Street Farmer's Marketplace is held in downtown Holland on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8am-5pm. Today I had my first experience there. It is much larger than I had expected,pleasantly well-organized and plenty of accessible parking. There's even a food court and regularly scheduled children's activities. Each Saturday there are cooking demonstrations, free food samples from the vendors, and a county extension agent available to answer questions related to plants and gardening issues. Throughout the summer there are some contests going on. July 19th, Alpen Rose is sponsoring a fruit and vegetable carving contest, in August it's a salsa showdown, and in October there will be pumpkin painting, hayrides, and my favorite, a pumpkin pie eating contest!

There's a HUGE selection of plants to choose from-both vegetable and ornamental. A fair sampling of organic products as well. Of course, many local farms selling such items as strawberries, rhubarb, snap peas, onions, radishes, asparagus, along with melons and other fruits and vegetables that, while not immediately local, are from neighboring states. So, still a lot fresher, healthier and cheaper than the grocery store version.

Here are two of the charming young vendors. One with local strawberries from South Haven and another helping her dad with asparagus sales.

As you can see, there are multiple vendors selling many of the same products. This situation lends itself to some unique and creative marketing strategies as each vendor strives to sell-out so that nothing has to be re-transported back from whence it came! I am told by my market buddy, Nancy Hendricks, that many times, as the day wears on and even as the season goes on, prices begin to drop and the vendors become more open to bargaining on items in an effort to liquidate their inventories.



There are also many vendors that carry specialty products such as these veggie chips, which I sampled and purchased. They are Oh, so good! This vendor also has honey and trail mixes. There is a stand that carried various types of pickles and relishes, there was a seller that had custom jerky blends and other seasoned meats, and a vendor which sold maple syrup, candies and bee's wax candles.

A friend of mine, Kim Meyers, is one of the bread vendors here. I just had to buy a bag of their specialty dinner rolls-the absolute best! Kim offers many other types of breads and rolls here as well. All of them fantastic!

 The hot, dishy chef, Ian Ramierez from Creative Dining, gives a class on how to use farm fresh ingredients to create rustic Italian dishes such as the char-grilled vegetable pizza shown here.

Another wonderful aspect to the farmer's market experience is the atmosphere. It's fun and friendly, and you never know who you'll run into...case in point, here's our Victory Point music coordinator, Mike, his lovely wife Mary, and their very adorable children!I did run into a number of other individuals I know as well, so it turned into a bit of a networking event combined with the grocery shopping. I always love to multi-task whenever possible!

The market is also rampant with crafters of every ilk. I especially loved the metal sculptors, the topiaries, and the dried flower arrangements and wreaths.

The pussy willow wreaths were my greatest temptation!
The shoppers at this farmer's market are not at a loss for entertainment either! There were plenty of street performers for our enjoyment...My favorite ones were these three guys who did all classic Beatles tunes.


We met a little puppy who is being trained for a very important job...
This is a Paws with a Cause dog who will remain with a host family for one year while being socialized before being handed back to the organization for specialized training in helping disabled individuals live safer and more productive lives. What an adorable, irresistible little face!
For lunch,Nancy and I stopped at the Carragh, a local Irish pub.


It's awesome that so many restaurants in downtown Holland are now offering seating outdoors. On a beautiful day like today, this is the perfect spot for a brewski and possibly the best Rueben in town.

Picking up the 7 flats of flowers that were gifted to me by another considerate friend wrapped up a very fun and productive Saturday morning.