Farmers market back to Market Square site

Using an emoji of an ear of sweet corn, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership announced this week that the Market Square Farmers Market is back on Market Square starting Thursday.

The market now runs, as it usually would, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays with many of the farmers and food and drink purveyors regulars have come to know, as well as live entertainment. The plan is to continue through October.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, the market started the season spread out over a parking lot on the edge of Downtown at the Strip District and was called the 11th Street Farmers Market. That one, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays, will continue through July 26.

Safety precautions implemented there — including more space between vendors and between customers in line — also will be implemented in Market Square, where the market will continue its 16th season.

The PDP’s vice president of events, Russell

Howard, says that by necessity, there will be fewer vendors, who will be spaced out around the perimeter so customers can safely line up inside the square. The entertainment will be scaled down, too — soloists and duos — and vendors will not be selling prepared foods to start. But PDP already is making plans to expand when it can.

“It’s such a vital part of the fabric of Downtown,” he said.

Vendors and customers are required to wear masks, maintain social distancing and use credit and debit cards when possible. Some vendors are offering preorders. Customers should not handle products before purchase and stay away if they don’t feel well.

Full-time vendors will include Batch, Cherish Creamery, Mediterra Bakehouse, Sand Hill Berries and Simmons Farm, and there will be a rotation of part-time vendors.

And Simmons Farm should have corn.

Get more details at https://downtownpittsburgh.com/marketsquare-farmers-market.

Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette Victor Torres, left, an employee with Simmons Farm, gives a bag of potatoes to Adam Wechter and Lauren Schrecker, both of the South Side, on May 24 at the 11th Street Farmers Market in the Strip District. It was the temporary name and location for the Market Square Farmers Market.