GROWING INTEREST
As farmers market season begins, the array of produce and other products is more varied than ever
It’s been more than a baker’s dozen of years, but Cathy Muscato still remembers the excitement — and hard work — of getting Bethel Park’s famed farmers market off the ground. Today, the open-air market held at South Park’s ice skating rink parking lot is one of the city’s largest. Some 30 farmers, bakers, cheesemakers and other vendors from a list of 50 set up shop on Tuesdays during the late-spring and summer growing season, delighting shoppers both with a wide variety of fresh, local products and a festive atmosphere bolstered by live entertainment and picnic tables for noshing.
Yet back when Ms. Muscato was “gifted” the market by her boss in the early aughts, as part of her job as Bethel Park’s assistant recreation director, it was far from robust — fledgling, even.
“I think we had about eight vendors,” she recalls with a laugh, including just one produce farmer (Simmons Farm) and a shaved ice maker. Organized in a small parking lot of The Historic Schoolhouse at the corner of South Park Road and Park Avenue, it was successful but “had to catch on,” she says.
They picked Tuesdays because there weren’t any other markets that day, and it seemed as good a day as any for what was then a cutting-edge venture.
As the market slowly added vendors, it changed locations a couple of times before ending up at South Park four years ago. Voted one of Pittsburgh’s best farmers markets the past two years, it now draws upward of 1,200 customers a week. And talk about variety: When it kicked off the 2022 season on May 3 under
sunny skies, with the aroma of Logan Family Farm’s steak burgers sizzling on a grill, it boasted not just a record number of farmers — four — but also booths selling everything from hummus and local honey to organic coffee, bread, chocolate milk, wine and fancy desserts.
With the social distancing and masking requirements of the pandemic pretty much in everyone’s rearview mirror, this promises to be a good year for the region’s farmers markets. Or, as Melissa Culberton, program director for Pittsburgh’s CitiParks’ four farmers markets put it, “everything should be back to normal for this full season.”
“We are continuing the start with no restrictions,” she says, “which will make that a little easier on everyone.”
Even during the pandemic, the Squirrel Hill market — CitiParks’ largest — consistently hit between 1,500 and 2,000 shoppers each Sunday, and expectations are it will do just the same if not better when it gets going on May 15.
A new year always brings changes and, for CitiParks, the biggest for 2022 is a new location, and name, for its East Liberty market. Rebranded as the East End market, it’s been relocated a few blocks down the street to Liberty Green Park, on Larimer Avenue behind Target. The new spot features an open lawn and playground, “and there’s beautiful wide walkways for the tents to pop out on,” says Ms. Culbertson.
There also are new hours at the East End and Carrick markets, 3:30-6:30 p.m.
New vendors include Kingfly Spirits, Plum Run Winery, cheesecake maker Kyle’s Cakes N’at and Chez Lapin, an artisan candle and natural skincare company. The North Side market also has a new flower vendor, Champion’s Sun Shower Flower Farm, and vegan Trinidandian cuisine from new-to-the-neighborhood ShadoBeni.
The Market Square Farmers Market, which kicks off Thursday with its much-loved daffodil bulb giveaway (while supplies last), also has several new vendors, bringing the total number to at least 30 each week at its site in Market Square. Some feature global flavors: KizzleFoods will offer natural spices sourced from Africa, Jak’s Bakery features handmade pastries using traditional Bulgarian techniques and recipes, and Le Beau Gateau sells European-style desserts.
Others newbies include hGrace Confections (malted milk chocolates), Keystone Cultures (kombucha and kir products) and EmTree Bath and Body. A rotating lineup of local businesses, including Amazing Books, will also be there each week.
At Bethel Park new faces include Jordan Tomb’s Organic Coffee, Victory Farms, Country Hammer Moonshine and Chimney Cakery, which offers rolled, cylindrical cakes known as kürtőskalács.
When the market first started so many years ago, says Ms. Muscato, customers could expect just a small selection of meats and the most ordinary fruits and veggies. Now, they expect the “whole gamut” of produce in every imaginable color and variety. There also is a growing demand for small-batch products and unique items you can’t find in your local grocery store — say, hummus in a dozen different flavors, or moonshine that tastes like apple pie. And don’t forget ready-to-eat food aimed at those with dietary restrictions. Ed Jodikinos, a thirdgeneration farmer who mans one of the market’s four produce stands, is but one example. He used to focus mostly on corn, tomatoes and potatoes, back in the day. “Now I do everything,” he says with a laugh, including herbs, cut flowers and — thanks to two greenhouses — hanging baskets. In fact, by the time the market hits full steam in July, he’ll offer something new every week. Given pandemic- related shortages and skyrocketing inflation, Mr. Jodikinos says shoppers can expect slightly higher prices this year; the cost of fertilizer, for example, has gone from $600 to $1,200 a ton, and he also had a hard time this year getting seeds and produce baskets. But odds are you’ll still get cheaper prices and a better product than in many large grocery stores. And don’t discount how much fun you’ll have getting to know your local food producers and the satisfaction that comes with supporting a small business. “It’s really becoming a social experience,” says Ms. Muscato. “Plus you get to eat all that good stuff.”