I saw a blurb this morning that Massachusetts wine will finally be allowed to be sold at farmer's markets in Massachusetts. Of course, they have to get a liquor license (impossible!) and card everyone who tastes (because of all the 18 year olds that have been known to frequent farmers markets to get drunk off of a 1 oz sample of wine. Oh joy.
This got me thinking, why do our farmer's markets suck so much?
Here are my gripes:
1) They don't have much variety. While not every market can be like the one in Union Square (NYC), I've been to farmer's markets all over, including places like Cleveland and Schenectady that blow anything in the Boston area out of the water. You can find multiple vendors with meats, cheeses, breads, pastas, herbs, ice cream, honey, jarred/pickled food, etc.
2) There aren’t many open on the weekends.
3) They are only seasonal. If there was more variety, they could stay open through the winter.
Maybe I’m just not going to the right ones. (Admittedly, I haven’t been to the South End Open Market, but doing anything in the south end that requires parking is a huge inconvenience to those who aren’t nearby) Maybe it’s because the area has so many farms in the community. But it would be great to see a large one open somewhere on the weekends with 30-40+ stalls.