To Market, Green Market:
Farmers Markets Paint the Town Green
By Su-Jit LinAutumn’s arrived, and with this beautiful season comes visions of fall foliage, refreshing walks in the park, and bountiful harvests as the last of the summer’s crops are brought in. Whole Foods offers options in local produce, but many in New Orleans opt to go straight to the source – their local farmers markets.
Although the rapid upswing in popularity and expansion of farmers markets around the city has been on the more recent side, New Orleans has actually had a longstanding tradition of open-air markets. Under French rule, private purchase of goods would begin right on the levee as the cargo ships docked and merchants laid out their wares. Produce, meat, arts and crafts, and other provisions were offered fresh off the boats for public consumption. Under Spanish dominion, these free-for-all marketplaces were consolidated into a huge bazaar of European-style shopping, creating what is now America’s oldest public market – the French Market. Now specializing in arts, crafts, and tourist merchandise, a return to its roots is in the works as the organization prepares to launch a farmers market.
So we were once a bustling epicenter for homegrown goods. What the heck happened? Well, the popularity of these markets declined after World War II, mostly due to the Great Depression that had swept the nation. A movement towards “modernization” introduced supermarkets as the “best” and most efficient way to shop, and marketplaces fell sadly into disrepair as both vendors and customers decreased.
Fortunately, the Green movement—with its environmentally friendly, smaller-consumption attitude and consciousness of local economies—has created resurgence in the popularity of farmers markets everywhere. An emphasis on organic, fresh, and natural foodstuffs has created a demand for a return to a simpler way of life, and New Orleans has become once again a hotbed of local market activity.
One of the more recognizable green market organizations is comprised of three separate markets on three different days of the week. MarketUmbrella.org, a blanket non-profit created in 1995, is associated with the Crescent City Farmers Markets and the Mid-City Green Market, open on Tuesdays, Saturday, and Thursdays, respectively. The Saturday market services Downtown New Orleans with an easily accessible location on Magazine and Girod, while the Tuesday one takes care of Uptown on River Rd. The new Mid-City market is also convenient, located right on Orleans Ave. in the parking lot of the American Can Apartments.
But if those aren’t your neighborhoods, no worries! The trek to fresh produce isn’t quite as far as you’d think. The Broadmoor Farmers Market right on S. Claiborne offers another Thursday date, and the Freret Market serves the University corridor on the first Saturday of every month. Downtown Neighborhood Market Consortium member the Upper Ninth Ward Farmers Market is open for business on Saturdays as well. Farther down St. Claude, the Lower Ninth Ward has its own project, too – the Sankofa Marketplace, which opens one Saturday a month. Further out, you’ll find the Gretna Farmers Market, also on Saturdays, right on Huey P. Long Ave. between Third and Fourth St.
On the other side of town, the Harrison Avenue Marketplace is where the Lakefront action is on the second Wednesday night of every month, and our friends across the lake have the Covington Farmers Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Slidell’s Camellia City Market in Griffith Park is beloved by North Shorers, who flock there every Saturday to get their goods.
Each and every one of these markets boast a big variety of local providers and some of the freshest food products around, from Creole tomatoes to Ponchatoula strawberries to New Orleans French bread. Prepared foods like pastas, Mediterranean delicacies, jellies, and handmade pesto are available for sale … and immediate gratification. Gulf shrimp, fresh herbs, local berries, and fresh veggies are draws for local chefs and restaurateurs seeking inspiration for that night’s specials. Either way, we can rejoice metro-wide at the world of possibilities for eating healthier, fresher, and sometimes even more inexpensively, while doing good by supporting our local economy. New Orleans is a small city. But with the advent of green markets, we can get to know our food sources, vendors, and neighbors and make New Orleans a small community.
Market Days (in chronological order)
Tuesdays: Crescent City Farmers Market,
Uptown Square, 9 AM-1 PM
Wednesdays: Covington Farmers Market,
609 N. Columbia St, 10 AM-2 PM
Harrison Avenue Marketplace,
801 Harrison Ave., 5 PM-8 PM
Thursdays: Broadmoor Farmers Market
5405 S. Claiborne Ave., 3 PM-6 PM
Mid-City Green Market,
3700 Orleans Ave., 3 PM-7 PM
Fridays: Fridays at the Roch
St. Claude Ave. at St. Roch Ave., 5 PM-9 PM
Saturdays: Vietnamese Farmers Market
14401 Alcee Fortier Blvd., 6 AM-9 AM
American Sector Market (affiliated with Crescent City Farmers Market)
700 Magazine St., 8 AM-12 PM
Camellia City Market
333 Erlanger St., Griffith Park, 8 AM-1 PM
Gretna Farmers Market
Huey P. Long Ave and Third St., 8:30 AM-12:30 PM
Covington Farmers Market
609 N. Columbia St., 9 AM-1 PM
Mandeville Trailhead Community Market
675 Lafitte St., Mandeville Trailhead, 9 AM-1 PM
Sankofa Marketplace
St. Claude Ave. and Caffin, 10 AM-3 PM
Freret Market
Napoleon Ave and Jena St., 12 PM-5 PM
Upper Ninth Ward Farmers Market
3500 St. Claude Ave., 1 PM-4 PM