This Week at Smart Markets Springfield

This Week at our Springfield Farmers' Market
Saturday 10 a.m. – Due to the extreme heat, we are closing one hour earlier than usual.  We will close at 1 p.m.
American Legion Post 176
6520 Amherst Ave.
Springfield, VA 22150
Map

This Week at the Market

We will be back behind the American Legion building this week. We picked quite a day to try something new last week -- it was surreal in the midst of all the destruction and traffic made worse by the power outages. We did attract some new shoppers with the visibility on Old Keene Mill Road, and we liked the site for the breeze that blew throughout the market, so we may set up down there again occasionally, and we will let you know. But we also missed the proximity to our hosts and will maintain our presence behind Post 176 most weeks.

We want to thank the Greater Springfield Volunteer Fire Department for showing up as promised under something less than ideal circumstances. They sold drinks to us and our shoppers and will continue to do that every week starting July 14. They also brought a misting fan that saved all of us from heat prostration. We encourage you to pick up a water or soda from them each week to go with your BBQ or just to hydrate yourself while shopping -- all proceeds go to support the Fire Department.

And I want to thank our vendors who drove through countrysides and neighborhoods that looked like war zones and then stood for four hours in temperatures that would have killed a cat. I could not reach any of them with both cellphone and landline service unavailable, so I just showed up to see who would come. And except for two vendors who lost the power that ran their ovens, they all did. I was gratified and amazed!

New Vendors This Week

We welcome this week Valley View Bakery and their full range of great European breads, breakfast pastries and desserts of all kinds. Two African gentlemen, both with a great story to tell, have teamed up to open a bakery here in Northern Virginia and are moving from wholesale to retail sales. Smart Markets hopes to help them succeed.

So let them know what you like, what you would like see more of, and what you’d like for them to try out on you. So far everything we have sampled has been very good, and we are still working our way through all of their offerings.

Vendors Absent This Week

As of this update, we expect all of our weekly vendors to be with us this week, but the heat may get the best of some of them by Saturday morning. Please check our Facebook page for the latest updates if you are coming for something special. Or follow us on Twitter -- we will always let you know if there are major changes to the market right up to the opening bell.

On the Way In and Out

Jose Montoya and Alma will bring melons over the next few weeks, and you will find that there is no comparison between just-picked melons and those in the grocery store. Jose will have some cut for sampling -- you won’t be able to resist once you taste.

Pete Lund will be bringing his own heirloom tomatoes soon. He grows a wide variety to supplement the other tomatoes that he brings to us from the farms of Old Order Amish in Southern Maryland. And the Fetters brothers are sending more peaches, plums, nectarines, and berries in addition to the last of the apples. Don’t forget to pick up some of their canned items. The peach BBQ sauce is wonderful, as is their sour cherry juice.

Great Harvest has been sending new items each week to learn what you like and are interested in buying. They have dog treats with nothing but good ingredients for your pets and granola that is also much healthier and tastier for you and your family than most brands. You know they will be sampling that great bread, so stop by and see what’s new.