People come on Thursday evenings to shop for delicious food at Fredericksburg Farmers Market, but they also come for the atmosphere. It’s a weekly event, where multiple generations gather, talk, eat, enjoy live music, and purchase something from local vendors.
“The change has come over the last five years, since we moved to the bigger pavilion at Marktplatz. We used to have people who were shopping, a they’d stop and have a glass of wine,” said Mark Mazur, market manager and trash picker-upper. “Now we have families. Look at all the kids and babies, rolling around! A lot of them hang out until we run them off.”
Mazur thanks the City of Fredericksburg for giving the farmers market a great deal on the best location in town, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, for promoting the market to visitors.
The farmers market runs every Thursday from 4-7 p.m., for seven months of the year, April through October. It’s a mix of first-tier and second-tier products. The producers are first-tier — farmers and ranchers who sell everything from free-range, clean meat to Hill Country peaches.
“Engel [Orchards] — that’s five generations of farming. They can tell you about every peach, where it’s grown, which orchard, tell you about the dew point,” said Josh Raymer, owner and baker at Bakery JoJu, a farmers market vendor. Raymer also praises the strawberries, which were “insanely delicious” at their peak in the spring.
The second-tier vendors include people like Raymer, who bakes up to 150 wood-fired pizzas every Thursday. He buys 400 pounds of wheat each week from a grower in Harper he met at the market. He says it’s like France — he’s able to buy almost everything he needs from local producers and then turn that into a product.
“When he’s making pizza, he’ll buy tomatoes from whoever’s got tomatoes here. He’ll buy greens from Mikey’s [Garden],” Mazur said.
And he isn’t the only one.
“Four working chefs come here to buy stuff for their restaurants,” Raymer said.
In addition to buying pizzas made onsite, guests can get authentic Mexican food from Nury’s.
“Nury’s — they don’t have to be here. We got worried that once they got in their second location on Main Street, they’d leave. They have enough work to do. But they all hang out here, do their stuff and just enjoy the market,” Mazur said.
Other vendors get their start at the farmers market and grow from there.
“Piccolina — they were here, then they added a van. Now they’ve got a shop,” Mazur said. “Other Mother [vinegar] — they were just cutting their teeth here. Now they’re in H-E-Bs everywhere.”
Raymer says Wild and Well kombucha also got its start at the market.
“They got so successful they don’t come to sell. They come, and they’re customers now,” he said. “It’s a fantastic way to start a small business. You get in front of 2,000 people on a Thursday. It’s an incredibly low cost of entry. You really get to test, see what people like. It’s an amazing way to get feedback.”
When taking applications from vendors, the market works to avoid duplicates, so businesses don’t cannibalize each other. Currently they are looking for more produce from local and regional farmers.
The market continues in the fall, but on a smaller scale, on the grounds of the Pioneer Museum.
“The fall market is not as busy, but charming. The weather is typically fantastic,” Raymer said. “In the fall we’ll have the best apples you’ve ever had.”
Throughout the seasons Fredericksburg Farmers Market draws people who want to linger in the good vibes.
“If you want a carrot, we’re your place,” Raymer said. “We’re also wood-fired pizzas. The juice guys [Overjuiced] are amazing. The coffee guys [Courthouse Coffee Roasters], they hold themselves to high standards.”
And don’t forget the wine.
“All our wine vendors — it’s all Texas grapes here. Mostly from the area,” Mazur said. “By the glass or by the bottle.”
fredericksburgtxfarmersmarket.com
Kerrville’s Heart of the Hills Farmers Market celebrated its grand opening June 22. The market isn’t new, but its downtown location, in the Texas Star parking lot, is. The pavement star is located at the junction of Earl Garrett and Water Streets.
“Moving downtown, launching with the Chamber of Commerce and joining the downtown community makes sense,” said market president Joe Martin.
Martin and his wife, Sally Thiel, also operate a booth, Zydeco Moon Gardens. The couple moved from Louisiana, and their small farm produces a wide variety of fresh produce, cut flowers, and heirloom tomatoes.
“They call my wife the Tomato Lady,” Martin said.
The Kerrville farmers market meets every Saturday morning, year-round, at 741 Water Street. The space offers seating, shade, a covered pavilion, plenty of free parking, and a view of the Guadalupe River and Louise Hays Park. In the summer the market runs from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, and when it’s a little cooler, it is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The new location includes a gazebo, where entertainers perform.
Heart of the Hills Farmers Market is vendor-owned and managed. Martin says all the booths are people who “grow it or make it or bake it.”
“We have a soft spot in our hearts for small business because we’re a small business. We like to be good stewards of what the good Lord has given us,” he said.
Martin says the market gets a fair amount of foot traffic, beginning with older folks and trending younger as the morning goes on. They all know what to look for — Punkin, Martin’s orange VW, the mascot of Heart of the Hills.
“I have a flagpole that I rig up in her backseat and fly different flags on market days,” Martin said.