Finally! Beginning in January, the East Nashville Farmers’ Market is becoming a year-round market.
If this were a typical final week of the year (which, for several reasons, it clearly is not), I would be thinking about my grocery shopping for the next few months, figuring out my workaround for Tuesday afternoons until April when the formerly seasonal market returns. I love this neighborhood market. During the particularly rough parts of the pandemic, it was an outdoor place for me to buy local produce and see friends safely. Since moving to the parking lot at Woodland Street and South Fifth Street, it has plenty of parking and room to spread out. Heck, I even got my booster shot there, in a Metro Nashville Public Health tent.
The ENFM expansion will follow the model of the Richland Park Farmers’ Market, which has been year-round for years, says market manager Rebecah Boynton. (Both markets are owned by Delvin Farms.) The timing of the expansion comes as the nearby Citizen Market, the retail outlet in Five Points' Hunters Station, closed on Christmas Eve.
Several of the food businesses that cook in Citizen Incubator Kitchens’ commissary kitchen and previously sold their wares at Citizen Market as well as at the ENFM reached out to Boynton. They asked to extend the seasonal market year-round so that they’d have a neighborhood spot for selling in the winter. Among them were CaityPies, Radical Rabbit and Cocorico!, which Boynton says are among the markets’ best-performing vendors. “These women are who I would consider dream vendors," she says. "We are really proud of them and want to support them in any way we can.”
Boynton has wanted ENFM to go year-round for a while. It works well at Richland Park, she says (although the West Side market takes place on Saturdays, so it gets a bigger crowd anyhow). Obviously, in the winter there will be more prepared foods and less fresh produce — you won’t find a tomato in January — but the market will be stocked with farm-fresh chickens, eggs and grass-fed beef. Boynton expects between 30 and 45 vendors each week.
Laura Wilson, managing partner of Citizen Incubator Kitchens and the late Citizens Market, helped compile a list of where shoppers can find the foodstuffs they love now that Citizen Market has closed.
“The lessons that I take from this are that purchases from local companies matter, and that going a little out of your way to go to farmers markets and local shops can directly impact lives and livelihoods in your community,” Wilson says.
At the East Nashville Farmers’ Market, you can find CaityPies, Radical Rabbit, Cocorico!, Kuyah Jamaican Patties and Lovin' from the Oven. Go to Richland Park Farmers' Market for Caitypies, Radical Rabbit, Cocorico!, Lovin’ from the Oven and Jim’s Spaghetti Sauce, which can also be ordered online.
Several vendors’ products are available through Hot Poppy, an app that aggregates local goods much like Citizen Market did, but delivers to your home. Among those whose products can be ordered through Hot Poppy are Cocorico!, Kuyah Jamaican Patties and Clawson Co.
Blister Hot Sauce is on the shelves at The Be-Hive Deli and Market, The Turnip Truck and Mitchell Deli.
In addition to the farmers markets, Cocorico! can be delivered through Market Wagon, which also delivers The Broth Stop. The Broth Stop can be found at Hendersonville Produce and the Nashville Farmers' Market too. Protein Snack Shop is available at all locations of I Love Juice Bar and Nolensville’s fantastic Oh My Chives.
You can buy Hot Sauce Nashville many places, including the 12South Farmers Market, Hip Donelson Farmers Market, The Turnip Truck and Oh My Chives.
Boynton praises Wilson’s foresight in helping small food businesses. “Laura Wilson is extremely insightful," she says. "She is a visionary.”
The East Nashville Farmers’ Market will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays at 511 Woodland St. Come spring, hours will shift a half-hour later, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.
