Troy Farmer’s Market: a downtown experience

By: Ma’or Lev

Guest Contributor

The scent of freshly baked herb focaccia wafts over and around a baker’s table and tempts customers as they wait in line at the nearby dessert stand which serves hot, fresh, sugar waffles with chocolate drizzle and powdered sugar. Vodka, Rosé, and beer decorate the adult drinks section, complemented by a variety of kombuchas, coffees, and teas.

The Troy Winter Farmers’ Market offers a tremendous variety of produce and products – from sauerkrauts and pickles to elegant nut butters and cheese displays dazzling passersby with varied samples and tasters. Sprawled throughout the first and second floors, the winter market is located at The Troy Atrium.

Downstairs, rainbow carrots and golden apples overflow baskets, fresh sprouts and leafy salad greens jostle for space, and coolers display pesto, apple cider, meat, and more. Live music warms the air every Saturday from 9am-2pm, and a festive atmosphere attracts those looking for food and a relaxing environment including college students and young families.

A brick staircase winds a path upwards to the Atrium’s second floor, with grasses, flowers, and bushy shrubs accompany each landing and balcony. A glass ceiling floods the entire space with sunlight, expanding the enclosure to accommodate the 1,000+ people who come weekly between November and April.

Upon entering the Atrium, vegetable, fruit, and meat farmers dominate the layout. Assorted soaps, scarves, and jewelry balance out the mix, along with honey, pesto, breads, and coffee. Lunch foods abide upstairs, offering an assortment spanning breakfast sliders to pocket pies. Desserts range from maple cream to packaged kettle corn, with craft beer and vodka to wash it all down. A detailed map of the winter market layout can be viewed here.

To keep the produce local, all vendors are required to live or farm within 100 miles of Troy and produce the products they sell. A list of all vendors and more information about them can be found here.

The summer market is an attractive tourist destination for outsiders, and a festive place for locals on sunny afternoons. Over 13,000 shoppers frequent the market street weekly, browsing through the selection of foods and crafts. From youngsters to wiser elders, people from all walks of life frequent this Saturday event.

Between the summer and winter a distinctive transformation happens. From a massive operation of close to 100 vendors, the venue transitions indoors to a slightly smaller endeavor of 86 vendors. This change greatly reduces the number of tourists and vacationers. By the time November rolls around, only the hardy core of locals remains. On occasion, during local university visiting days, students and their families flood the market. On these days, the total crowd explodes by up to 35%!

Participating vendors run the Market, which means that their opinions and perspectives have a direct correlation to the past, present, and future of this market. There is quite an assortment of produce and products during the winter, and there is a constant drive to improve the market experience, to improve its outreach and fully realize its potential.

For vendors like Mr. Trieste, who owns and works the Buddhapesto stand, the market has created a wonderful atmosphere of positive energy, good vibes, and a fun supportive place to hang out. For Mr. Stanton, founder of Good Day Honey, it is a great market, a “real, honest thing.” But for farmers like Melissa, from Spring Hill Farm, the current trend in rising rates of up-state distilleries brings a wistfulness for times when the market had deeper roots in vegetable farmers.

This sentiment hints at a greater movement across upstate NY, where the already shrinking national rate of farms is being supplemented by a booming craft beverages industry. This progression mirrors an inflow of New York City folk and second home owners, suggesting a change in the revival of an agricultural industry.

While vendors are central to the Market, the orchestration and facilitation of day-to-day workings is conducted by Mr. Ridler, who also manages the planning and implementing the future goals.

Expansion of vendors is on the list of current tasks for Mr. Ridler, and this year alone, he received 96 applications for 4 possible openings. To narrow down the selection, applicants are divided into various categories and judged based on the demands of the current market. Central to growing the market is the desire to maintain the festive Saturday experience already present.

The various considerations for expansion include the perspective of customers, who do not want a negative impact on price, quality, or easy of exposure to all booths. For vendors, fair competition and ease in ability to sell products at a sustainable price is critical to the survival of their businesses.

The market experience offers locals a direct avenue to healthy foods. By bringing farm produce into the city, locals and tourists alike are learning about the availability of food and where it comes from. In striving to increase accessibility, the market has an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) terminal that allows visitors to receive market tokens, which are deducted from their SNAP benefits. Additionally, students from local universities are encouraged to hold informational tables, especially for topics surrounding wellness such as nursing or nutrition.

Having a local one-stop-food-shop every weekend, year-round, is not only convenient for everyone living here in Troy, but also for those food producers who need a venue for their products. By going to the market, customer purchases are directly benefiting the people who grow the vegetables, raise the animals, bake the bread, and brew the beer. Prices are compatible to those at supermarkets, and the environmental impact is greatly reduced.

Instead of investing in multi-million-dollar corporations that import from industrial agri-business in California or Mexico, each customer has a direct and immediate impact on the vendor from which they purchase. It is this power to enact positive change on the immediate environment and local economy that makes the Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market important, and the key element to its continued success in the future.