Fresh produce abounds at Cottin's Hardware Farmers Market. Thursdays, 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm May 5 - October 27. by llc
Thursday, May 5 is Cinco de Mayo and the opening day for Cottin’s Hardware Farmers Market. Located in the back parking lot of Cottin’s Hardware & Rental, at 1832 Massachusetts Street, in Lawrence, Cottin’s Market offers a neighborhood market experience with fresh produce, live music and ready-to-eat food. Come for the food and stay for the music and conversation at this food focused, socially oriented, community event.
Cottin’s Hardware Farmers Market began last year as the brain child of Jessie Asmussen and Kevin Prather of Mellowfields Urban Farm. Located at 1832 New Hampshire Street, Mellowfields Urban Farm started using Cottin’s Hardware & Rental as a drop off site for their CSA (community supported agriculture) program in 2008. Members of CSA programs commit to a yearly, monthly or weekly fee, paid directly to the farmer, and in return, receive a bag of produce from the farm each week. As Mellowfields’ CSA grew, so did their supply of produce. Soon Mellowfields found themselves selling extra produce on the side, as they waited at Cottin’s Hardware & Rental for their CSA members to arrive. The excitement over Mellowfields’ products from Cottin’s Hardware customers lead to the realization that there was an unmet demand in the neighborhood for fresh, local produce. A little checking around soon produced a core group of farmers and bakers who were interested in participating in a weekly market.
Cottin’s Hardware Farmers Market first season began in August 2010 and ran through September. Live music, Indian tacos, and a wide array of produce and bake goods proved to be a great asset to the community. This year’s market returns with an expanded vendor base, a longer market season and expanded hours. The market, geared to accommodate neighborhood seniors, families, commuters and working folk, will run from 4:00 pm until 6:30 pm every Thursday, May 5 through October 27.
Cottin’s Hardware Farmers Market will host 15 vendor sites, a hot food vendor and live music each week. Purveyors of locally grown fruits and vegetables, fresh bake goods, pies, breads and pastries, prepared food items such as seasonings, sauces, and jellies, fresh local poultry, grass fed beef, eggs, live plants, vegetable starts and an array of other locally produced items will be on hand each week to meet the community’s demand for high quality local products. Summer heat will see the return of fresh fruit popsicles and icy cold hibiscus tea. Mr. Bacon BBQ will serve up hot delicious BBQ items for the month of May and Ross Family Indian tacos are scheduled to make a comeback later in the season.
Renowned folk musicians Bill Crahan and Scott Tichenor, the market’s musical guests for May 5, will entertain market goers with their amazing repertoire of acoustical mandolin and guitar selections.
Come out and support Lawrence’s wonderful local producers in the back parking lot of Cottin’s Hardware & Rental this Thursday, May 5 from 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm. You’ll be glad you did!
Mellowfields Urban Farm at Cottin's Hardware Farmers Market, 1832 Massachusetts Street, Lawrence, KS. by llc
Comments
Marilyn_Hull (Marilyn Hull) says…
Thanks, Cottin's, for hosting this. All of the literature on improving Americans' diet points to making fresh produce more available in neighborhoods.
kbritt (Karrey Britt) says…
Thanks for letting the community know about this wonderful resource for local produce! I wondered how the market got its start and now I know! I will add the market to our calendars as well.
shleppy (anonymous) says…
don't forget the downtown lawrence farmers market out west in the parking lot across 6th street south from freestate high. thursdays 4 to 6. more local goodies to be had!
kris_adair (Kris Adair) says…
We can't wait! Audrey and Mo will be there for CSA pickup and live music. They love to dance. We will also be looking for some baked goods as the girls have started to gravitate toward them at the Sat Market.
rduhrich (anonymous) says…
One of my pet peeves: unnecessary apostrophes. In the last sentence of the second paragraph, why is "baker's" possessive and "farmers" is not? It seems that sometimes people just can't stop themselves from throwing that extra apostrophe in there. Stop it!
llc (Linda Cottin) replies…
I am sorry I did not catch that grammatical error. Thank you.