New York and the Hudson Valley both get the same treatment once the weather turns warm: a farmers market in practically every neighborhood and small town, running from spring through summer. I've shopped at more of these than I can count. But I've only ever sold at two of them — so let's talk about both sides of that folding table.
The big one: Union Square
The Union Square Greenmarket is the institution — running since 1976, with over 140 farms and producers showing up on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Everything from Hudson Valley seafood to ramps that disappear from the tables within a couple of weeks each spring.
Union Square Greenmarket — a Hudson Valley seafood stand.
Ramps and rhubarb — both gone from the tables almost as soon as they arrive.Where I actually sold: Pawling, and a flea market near the Natural History Museum
Until last year, I ran a small soap business under the name NUBI BINU — unscented, naturally colored, handmade. I sold it at exactly two places.
The first was the Pawling Farmers' Market up in the Hudson Valley — Saturdays, mid-June through late September, more than 35 vendors, small-town pace.
The second was Grand Bazaar NYC, near the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side. Technically it's not a farmers market at all — it's a flea market, and the oldest one still running in New York City, going back to 1979.
My tent at Pawling Farmers' Market.
Why is it even called a "flea" market?
I sold soap at one for years and never actually knew the answer. Turns out nobody's fully sure — there are two competing theories. One: it's a straight translation of the French "marché aux puces" ("market of fleas"), supposedly because so many secondhand goods were sold that the whole place was assumed to be crawling with fleas. Two: in 19th-century Paris, when Haussmann's renovations widened the boulevards, vendors got pushed out of their old storefronts — so the market of the "fled" (or "flee") sellers became "flea" by way of a pun that just stuck. The original, at Porte de Montreuil in Paris, has been running since 1860.
Honestly, I'm easing back into it. I'm planning to set up a tent again sometime next summer at one of the two — haven't decided which yet.
Subscribe if you want to hear how the comeback goes, and leave a comment if you've shopped at either of these markets too.
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