July 27th 2024 Farmers Market

Market Review July 20^th 2024

By Paul Bullock & Mary Gates

Aaaah! It was cool and cloudy with zero wind… a dream day for our Market! We had around 30 vendors on Saturday with loads of produce and fruit. The peaches are in, both local from Idalou and imported from Palisades, Colorado. Tomatoes, eggplant, black eyed peas, onions, cantaloupes and watermelons are available. We are beginning to see the harvesters bringing in bumper crops for our shoppers. I must say that we vendors also hurry about loading up on the good produce that is available. We always try to be supportive of each other and that strengthens the camaraderie that we as a Market community feel for our fellow small businesses.

We started out slow with shoppers, but the stream of visitors was steady throughout most of the morning. Vendors and shoppers alike were all thankful for the wonderful cloud cover that gave us a most pleasant morning. Our shoppers are consistently mixed with brand new visitors and our old faithfuls that are much appreciated and valued. I spoke with some folks from Snyder, Tx. and several who were first time visitors. Often we will see groups of people that are making a family event out of the Market. We had a successful Kids Corner with lots of smiley, energetic youngsters enjoying the day. We are happy to have a family friendly environment that encourages kids to participate and have fun.

We also have SNAP benefits available, a program that doubles the dollar value of SNAP credits up to $30.00. We hope that those families using SNAP will stop in and take advantage of this great deal. We have vendors selling produce, baked goods, canned goods, salsas, honey, quality meats, and much more! They are ready to help you load up with healthy choices for your family’s grocery list. Our crafts vendors have a vast assortment of gift ideas for every occasion and hope you will stop by and buy local for your gift needs this summer. We have handmade jewelry, candles, soaps, lotions and much more to chose from.

Along with being family friendly we are dog friendly as well. We choose one dog each week to be our Tornado Industrial/Arts Dog of the Day. Our choice is Millie! This beautiful lady wins our award and takes home a Red Bandana that delcares she is our Dog of the Day! We are in full summer swing with loads of wonderful things to eat and beautiful gifts to buy. We encourage you to support locally owned small businesses here in Lubbock, and hope you will drop by our Market at 5^th and Ave J. every Saturday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. See you there!

FEATURED VENDOR: EMERALD HOUSE

Our highlighted new vendor this week is Noah Meek with his booth EMERALD HOUSE. This gentleman is a highly trained culinary chef, whose passion is pasteries and breads. He was previously employed as the pastery chef at Rave On in Buddy Holly Hall. When that contract ran out, Noah decided to free lance, and has had his business since April. Noah is offering his high quality baked goods to the public, with hopes of opening up a storefront in downtown Lubbock in the future. He uses his own recipes, and says his gluten free choices taste the same as non gluten free. His goods include chocolate chip cookies, protein bars, brownies, peach crumble, cinnamon rolls, baguettes, brown sugar cinnamon sourdough, and plain sourdough. Noah plays around with different flours, like barley and rye, so his breads have varying flavors. Samples are available, so come say hello to Noah!

Thank you to everyone who came out to the July 20^th market. We hope to see you next Saturday at the Lubbock Downtown Farmers Market on the LHUCA Plaza!