City of Edmond Festival Market Place Parks and Recreation Dept. 2733 Marilyn Williams Drive Phone: (405) 359-4630 *** Note: Bring cash or check only!!! Wednesdays & Saturdays, June 9 – Sept 29 8-1pm; also April, May, & Oct on Sat from 9-1pm Rain or Shine Free Admission Welcome to the Edmond Farmers Market. Welcome to pure, local-grown bliss. I headed out to the Festival Market Place Saturday morning. I was scheduled to meet Summer, the Special Venues Coordinator. My GPS wouldn’t take the address, so I had to call her cell phone and ask where in the world to go. I had been to the Edmond Farmers Market years ago, when it was a small affair and really didn’t know what to expect. She told me to take Broadway Extension to 2nd Street and drive to the next stop light and hang a left. After that she said, “you’ll be able to see us from there”. Oh, was she correct on that one. As I approached the 1st and Broadway light, I was caught up in a traffic jam in old downtown Edmond the likes of which I’d never seen there before. And everyone was turning left onto 1st Street. I dialed Summer again..”I’m here”, I said, “but where in the world do I park?” There were cars filling the small lot and lining the streets west toward the railroad tracks. I ended up parking across the tracks. I approached a bustling scene of families and farmers that thoroughly stirred my excitement. This was the first booth I saw. I smiled in anticipation at the jewel-toned produce lined up in baskets being monitored by a ZZ-Top-style bearded man in overalls. I half expected him to bust out in a rendition of “Gimme All Your Loving”. Is he adorable or what? ( Mr. Wonderful would sternly tell me “adorable” is not a ZZ-Top descriptive word.) I also call big lifted-up trucks “cute”, which drives him crazy. Now this is what a Farmer’s Market should be. I was looking for Summer, so I headed towards the craziness. I loved the next thing I saw… A man perched atop a trailer of fresh corn. Sweet! (No pun intended!) I found Summer, and she briefed me a little on the Festival Market Place. Apparently several years back, the small farmers market began to grow. Eventually, Edmond decided they would give it a place to really shine, and they built this site with its permanent structure of metal canopies and it is a great setup. See those craft booths? They are only there on the second Saturday of each month and they are strictly regulated to stay in front of the yellow curb. That booth was particularly popular with it’s cute little Thunder and college logo minis! I totally would have bought one, if only I were 19… and had a perky, sun- tanned body like those cute girls in the booth! And I’m sorry, but these just cracked me up. Other craft booths housed things like jewelry, pillows, garden ornaments and various other fun things. But I was eager to move on to the produce. Everything under the metal awning is reserved for local farmers. There are many local farms that participate from all over Oklahoma. The vendors are required to clearly mark whether their produce is locally grown and if not , they must mark it also. And the produce was fine. So fine! There were baskets of fresh green beans. Would someone please tell me how I’m supposed to decide between these? And then there were berries. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries. I was in awe. They were plump, juicy and ripe and I wanted to take a handful and pop them into my mouth right then and there. There were squash, and red potatoes. And now I’m craving making red potatoes with green beans. Recipe coming shortly my friends. Tomatoes were everywhere. On tables and in baskets. As were watermelons. This table even let you have a taste-test to see how good they actually were. Want some herbs? These herbs weren’t packaged up in little plastic boxes. These herbs encouraged you (for the same price) to go home and dig up soil and plant them for a summer of enjoyment. How about some locally made wine? I had no idea there was a winery near Stroud called Sparks Vineyard and Winery. They have Blueberry wine…interesting! This guy was popular…and he was selling honey. Local honey. Honey is very near and dear to my heart. And then I rounded the corner and I found Urban Agrarians. This group is going to be a blog post later, all by themselves. From the truck the owner drives that is fueled by vegetable oil, to the homemade peanut butter you see on the top shelf, they intrigue me. I wanted to just dive, face-first right into the coolers of fresh lettuce I saw. And their table of produce? And as I peeked into another cooler, I saw, fresh-baked, wheat flatbread and pizza crust and many more intriguing selections. Another things worth mentioning. There are free range eggs and meat available. I saw families with children and strollers. It’s a fair-type atmosphere and there are even some food vendors there to make it fun. There was even a table with locally made hand-made soap. I encourage you, if you live in the OKC metro area, try out Edmond’s Festival Market soon. It’s a great experience. Just make sure you bring along cash or your checkbook, because they don’t take credit cards. I’ll be back next Saturday with cash. And bring along the kids. It’s a family friendly environment.