It's our 25th Season and it's going to be a doozy

Twenty five years ago this week, a group of dynamic Hastings women, committed to bringing fresh, local food to our community, met to finalize plans for a new farmer's market opening two weeks later in front of the Library. 

A farmer, a baker, and an orchard had been selected (all still with us) and the women, most of them professionals doing this in their spare time, were dealing with final details like signage and banners and purchasing a bright white 10x10 market tent.

The year was 1998. Seinfeld was ending, Google Search was launching, and I was loading up my forest-green Volvo 240 for a cross-country trek from San Francisco to New York, moving from one coast and one newspaper food-writing gig to another. I had no idea then that our paths would cross, but cross they did in 2007 when HFM Board member Jennie Bernard called to ask if I'd be interested in taking over the fledgling market. 

“We heard you weren’t working right now. And you know quite a lot about food” was her pitch. I had just quit my job as a NYC restaurant critic to spend more time with my girls, Mina and Sabine, then 4 and 3, and missed being around (and on the hunt for) good food.

I said yes. I never returned to journalism. Instead, I threw myself (and my family) into this modest market of 12 vendors, literally steps from our home, and never looked back.

I get credit for growing the market, but truly, it happened organically. Our town was ripe. The world was moving online. What our shoppers wanted was less convenience and more conversation. A place to be every Saturday, surrounded by friends and neighbors, good bread and good vibes. Texture, color, sounds of life ebbing and flowing. The buzz of the knife sharpener’s wheel, Jonathan, our original bread vendor, in conversation with the mockingbird perched in the tree above his stall. New babies, new dogs, new husbands, all were part of the weekly parade of humanity at the market, with goat cheese wrapped in fines herbes and rosy breakfast radishes as backdrop. “People want to pet the farmer,” an old farmer from black dirt country once told me to explain why farmers markets were opening at rapidfire pace.

Indeed, farmers markets were exploding everywhere. But the Hastings community embraced their market like no other. Granted, our astonishing views of the mighty Hudson and the Palisades as a backdrop didn’t hurt.  Still...rain, sleet, snow, nothing kept the shoppers away from this market which grew, and grew, and grew, mirroring the explosive growth of sustainable farming in the Hudson Valley. 

Hastings is a town filled with artists, writers, and curious people who’ve been lucky enough to travel the world and see and taste all manner of things.

I’ve opened farmers markets in other towns, but Hastings stands alone in its collective adventurous palate: the fishmonger knows to save his monkfish liver for this market. And when French chef Thierry Ricard turned up at the market one day with his samples of escargot tourtes, we both knew instantly he’d come to the right place. Hastings market shoppers also stand alone in their compassion, as seen through their generous donations to the food pantry but also to our farmers who’ve struggled over the years through devastating storms and drought. 

The market has also faced some struggles of its own. We went all the way to Federal Court to fight for our right to operate in the Library lot, and then, of course the pandemic. We insisted on staying open as a walk-up market with strict protocols, because we knew you would come and that you needed us. You stood in endless lines, patiently, gratefully, smiling through your masks. We could not have survived COVID without our devoted volunteers who come week after week to play traffic cop, fold t-shirts, and relieve vendors so they can run to the bathroom. They are invaluable. As is Rebecca, our trusty Market Manager who is truly unflappable and keeps smiling in the face of cars parked in a vendor’s spot, or driving in the wrong direction, or shoppers sneaking in to shop before the opening bell.

The market has helped launch scores of businesses from Dough Co. Bagels to Aya Hummus, to Marcelina Orange. Many of our food shops in town, Penny Lick, Di Riso, Wild Culture Waffles and The Good Witch got their start—and their courage to go brick and mortar–at the farmer's market. From smoked duck to smoked trout we've seen vendors come and go. But somehow, the trout and the duck return under a different canopy and different name, ditto for French crepes. 

We’ve also evolved from a market focused on fresh ingredients to one with rotating food trucks and prepared foods, to meet the demands of our evolving shopper base. Speaking of, Both SMOK’D, and XOLO Food Truck, will be here on opening day.

This market has always been uniquely special and we’re so grateful that a 25th Anniversary gives us permission to celebrate it all season long. This is the year we are really going to live up to our tagline and have “the most fun you’ve ever had in a parking lot.”

We have a new logo variation (and new shirts and French aprons) for the occasion. And, by now, you know about our shindig on June 17th (more details to come).  

All summer, we will be inviting you to share your thoughts and memories about the market through hand-written notes and interviews, but also, via a fun rotary phone that's been re-jiggered as a recording device and will pop up at the market throughout the season, starting this Saturday.

Thank you for a quarter century of market love. Let’s party and go for 25 more.

A reminder that we open at 8:30 a.m. this Saturday and not a moment sooner. 

See you at the market!

I leave you with a picture of a beautiful market ramen my family made this week with Asian Farmer’s handmade ramen noodles and miso broth, fresh tuna from Pura Vida, Swiss chard from Great Joy Farm and eggs from our backyard chickens.