Baltimore Farmer's Market vendors find support, personal connections from customers
More than 160 vendors gather each week at the Baltimore Farmer's Market under the underpass at Jones Falls Expressway to offer homemade and homegrown products.
Local produce, pastries, crafts, and other products are sold from 7 a.m. until noon each Sunday from April through December.
"We're going to have corn next week, and then we'll be getting into tomatoes and watermelons and cantaloupes, and everything will be full swing," said Stave Knopp, owner of Knopp's Farm on the Shore.
Personal connections at the Farmer's Market
Knopp will tell you farming isn't just a job to him, but rather his crops are rooted in tradition.
"This isn't just like a business or not just a market, this is like family," Knopp said. "I've been coming here since I was two. This isn't just any old regular day, this is family."
Knopp's parents sold produce at the Baltimore Farmer's Market before he was born, so he grew up pulling a wagon up and down the aisles.
Now, he runs the stand himself.
"I know a lot of the customers, I've known their grandparents, now I'm meeting their children," Knopp said. "I'm meeting their grandchildren. I'm telling my age now, but it's really awesome, it's very special."
Those personal connections with shoppers keep them coming back.
"We really just try to support the local folks who live here as much as we can. If we're not going to, who is?" said customer Jason Ward.
Supporting local businesses
Delaney Cate, the farmer's market's manager, told WJZ she enjoys watching Marylanders support each other through the Baltimore Farmer's Market.
"You get to kind of see the city and the area wake up in a way," Cate said. "It's a great idea to keep money in the community. If you're shopping local, you've also got folks that live here that are being hired to vend."
Vendors say what you get at the Baltimore Farmer's Market is not just a vegetable off a shelf, it's also an interpersonal experience.
"When you come here, you're talking to the farmer, you're talking to me," Knopp said. "It's know your farmer, know your food."
