A new and expanded farmers market is returning to Germantown on May 8.
The new Germantown and Schoolhouse Farmers Market will take place at Market Square from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. each Saturday through November 20. The market will be the first since the pandemic disrupted many social events.
The Food Trust operated the neighborhood’s farmers market in the past. This time around, they have handed the opportunity to Germantown residents to organize the weekly event.
Saturday’s market will include 12 vendors from Northwest Philadelphia, ten more than previous years. That means shoppers can expect to see an enhanced offering of fresh fruits and vegetables, healing tea blends, cold-pressed juices, homemade candles and other artisan items produced by local vendors.
“They’re so inspiring, so stellar and I really want them to be celebrated,” Jasmine Thompson says, one of two market organizers. “I want the market to have a focus of celebrating local food and the power that we have for our food system and promoting an idea of food sovereignty.”
Founder of Philly Forests, a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, Thompson was guided by the Food Trust to operate the market. After the Food Trust evaluated which markets to reopen post-pandemic, Germantown was not one of them. Additionally, the market was closed due to the pandemic last year.
Thompson offered to take over the Germantown market, allowing Germantown residents to make the market an independent operation.
“So they were down with it, and then transferred the market to me and got me like, set up with all of the permits and licenses and insurances and all of that,” Thompson says.
But a farmers market is more than an occasional event to purchase fruits and vegetables outside—not a fad, but a culture replaced by years of mass production.
A second organizer and sponsor for the farmers market is Sally Blagg, a creative agency working with local and global brands to curate efficient and sustainable systems. Germantown resident and Sally Blagg founder David Rose said the farmers market will reintroduce traditional methods of obtaining food. Rose said the idea of purchasing food from a local farmer and taking it to your table has been lost in mass production.
“That culture existed in Philadelphia and in Germantown,” Rose says. “But it’s not existing in the commercial corridors. It’s not existing in the restaurants. It wasn’t existing in the marketplace.”
While Philadelphia is a metropolitan area, Rose believes urbanization prevents residents from obtaining food traditionally. The farmers market will be one way to bridge the gap between farmers and dinner tables that grocery store shopping has widened.
“That’s a part of the pushback against rapid urbanization,” Rose explains. “Losing so many vacant lots creates an environment where we’re losing landscape that could be turned into a food forest. People who live in these communities that don’t have their kitchen gardens could still have access to fresh produce.”
Here is a list of the signed up vendors for Saturday’s weekly market:
- Philly Forests
- American Tea House
- Farmer Jawn & Viva Tea Leaf
- Rosewood Home
- Juice Jawn
- The Random Tea Room
- Lavish Pairings
- Zaneyah’s Delights
- Flat Belly Veg
- America Plants
- The Art Studeyo
- Fifth of a Farm
- Bloom Bold Company
- Farm In The Wild
For more information about the market, visit their Facebook Page.
The Germantown Info Hub is one of over 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push towards economic justice. Follow us at @BrokeInPhilly.Â
