Greenblade - creation - faith - justice

The Farmer’s market moves outdoors this week. This is a moment-to-celebrate for most of my chic-foodie peers: the outdoor market is in a beautiful park in the center of the most suburban part of the city. There are babies and dogs and music: it’s really lovely.  The whole thing has the air of a festival, a weekly celebration of affluent folks buying delicious, beautiful food. I kind of hate it.

The wintertime farmer’s market is different. Located in the sprawling high-ceilinged hallways of an old mill building in an industrial city, it’s a very different kind of beautiful. And yes, there is music, and often babies, but the is feeling more “day at the market” than “cocktail party in the park.” It pulls a wider variety of venders (the winter market is the only market in the state from October-June), driving up variety and driving down prices. There’s always a long line at the turn-your-food-stamps-into-farmer’s-market-cash table. In short, the crowd is more diverse, the prices are more reasonable, the whole thing is just more accessible, even as the selection wanes terribly in midwinter.

This is, I suppose, one of the challenges of the local food movement. Is a farmer’s market a social event or a grocery store? Is the reason to go to wander and see and be seen, or simply to buy your food for the week? As local organic food tends to be more expensive, and is certainly currently trendy, how to we ensure our farmer’s markets aren’t classist? How do you make a farmer’s market that’s accessible (neither too hippie-dippie or too bourgeoisie) without alienating your core audience of hippies and rich folks?

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