Managing Belmont’s Farmers’ Market [Video]

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Photo: Patrons can find Mirela at the Belmont Farmers’ Market from the first week of June to the last week in October

It’s a not-so-hot summer Thursday as Mirela strolls the Claflin Street parking lot in Belmont Center, where the Belmont Farmers Market is located and where she’s one of the Market’s two managers.

From a small town near Barcelona, Mirela has been giving her time to the Market – one part of the Belmont Food Collabrative – for nearly a decade with its mission to make healthy food part of everyone’s home, said Mirela.

“[The Belmont Farmers Market] is an important part of the community, and I feel wonderful working here,” she said.

Volunteers like Mirela and her staff provide the structure that allows the Market to offer local produce, meat and fish, baked goods, prepared meals, breads, and freshly made goods to more than 800 patrons each week.

Starting in the first week of June and ending the last week of October, Mirela sets up and takes down the stalls and tents used by the Market, makes sure the nearly two dozen vendors are happy and hydrated (with water provided by the Market), and answers a litany of questions from patrons. Mirela also works to find new vendors by visiting other farmers’ markets during the year. 

The Market also provides food assistance to shoppers, including doubling SNAP benefits up to $25 per week and participating in the state’s Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which offers coupons to WIC families and eligible seniors. In 2023, these programs added more than $59,000 to shoppers’ budgets.

Last year, the Market started its free POP Club, targeting the youngest patrons. Each week, nearly 70 kids between 5 and 12 years old are provided $3 in POP Bucks, which can be used to purchase fruit and vegetables—”No cookies!” said Mirela—to make their own healthy food choices and learn where their food comes from while making the Market a fun experience.

And this week the market is asking POP participants how the program is doing with a POP Club Survey

Farmers Market Opens For 18th Season On Thursday, June 6, With Food Assistance Fair

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Photo: Belmont Farmers Market opens for the season on Thursday, June 6.

The 18th edition of the Belmont Farmers Market will get underway at 1:45 p.m., Thursday, June 6 – rain or shine – at its traditional home in Belmont Center’s Claflin Parking Lot. A slew of new vendors selling produce, drinks, prepared meals, baked goods and a while lot more will be available.

The market is open on Thursdays in June to October from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (6 p.m. in October)

The day will be highlighted with the third annual Food Assistance Information Fair and food drive.

This season sees the return of the popular children program: POP Club: The Power of Produce. Enroll your kids in the club, and they get $3 every week to spend at the Market on any fruits, vegetables, or food-producing plants that they want to buy. It’s free for all children between 5 and 12 years old.

Don’t forget bring non-perishable food donations for the Belmont Food Pantry. The pantry will thank you.

Belmont Farmers Market is a project of Belmont Food Collaborative, Inc

Belmont Farmers Market Opens Thursday, June 1 With A POP And A Food Assistance Fair

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Photo: Opening Day for the Belmont Farmers Market is Thursday, June 1.

Mark your calendar: the Belmont Farmers Market will open for the season on Thursday, June 1.

The Opening Day celebration will take place at 1:30 p.m. in the Claflin Street Parking Lot in Belmont Center with a ribbon cutting, a speech and the ringing of the market bell.

The market is open weekly on Thursday afternoons, 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., until the last week in October.

Market favorite vendors are back, bringing produce, baked goods, prepared foods and knife sharpening to Belmont each week. In addition,

In addition, the Just Hummus food truck will be a Market regular throughout the summer.

Opening With A Pop

This year the market will participate in the POP Club, a nationally-recognized program aimed at empowering kids to make healthy food choices and learn where their food comes from. Each week, POP Club members get a $3 POP Club coupon to spend at the Market on fruits, vegetables, or food-producing plants of their choice.

Signing up is simple. If your child is between the ages 5-12, fill out this POP Club form or stop by the Manager’s Tent at the Market to grab a POP Club Passport. Then collect your $3 coupons, get a stamp, and go shopping.

Food Assistance Fair To Inform Shoppers How To Stretch Budget

The Market will host their second annual Food Assistance Information Fair as part of the Opening Day celebration. The fair’s primary goal is informing shoppers about the many benefit programs that can help them stretch their food budgets.

BFM’s food assistance doubles SNAP benefits – formerly Food Stamps – up to $25 weekly for each shopper. They are one of the few farmers’ markets that double Farmers Market Nutrition Program coupons (FMNP) for eligible seniors and WIC families.

The Market’s food assistance program grew significantly in the 2022 season:
• $26,000 in matching funds for SNAP and FMNP, an increase of 60 percent over 2021.
• $22,000 in produce purchased from HIP farmers, an increase of 15 percent over 2021.

Donations from the community and sponsorships from local businesses pay for the matching program, while the Commonwealth reimburses vendors for HIP purchases. Spending those additional funds at the Market also supports local farms and businesses.

The Market is a project of the Belmont Food Collaborative, Inc. BFC is a nonprofit whose goal is education about food and nutrition, and helping families in need get fresh produce.

Editor’s note:

A reader asked: Why does the Belmontonian use “farmers” rather than “farmers'” in the title of the market? Here is an explanation from Kevin Hessel, a top-notched copy editor:

“[Farmers Market] is a descriptive phrase, not a possessive – a market for farmers, not a market belonging to farmers – so there’s no need for a possessive apostrophe, which is the only thing an apostrophe here would seem to indicate. Boys basketball, girls basketball, teachers union, farmers market, etc.”

“Descriptive phrases like children’s hospital (a hospital for children, not a hospital belonging to children) get an apostrophe because the plural children doesn’t end in s, also e.g. men’s basketball, women’s basketball.”

“A complete explanation of the applicable rules is under the apostrophe entry in the Punctuation chapter of the [AP] stylebook.”

Final Farmers’ Market Of The Season This Thursday; Added Venders, Knife Sharpening, Kids In Costumes

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Photo: The final farmers’ market until June.

The final Belmont Farmers’ Market of the 2022 season will take place on Thursday, Oct. 27 in the Claflin Street Municipal Parking Lot (a block from Belmont Center) from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Children that come to the Market dressed in their Halloween costume should stop by the manager’s tent for a special gift bag!

This final market day will have four extra vendors in addition to the normal lineup, for a total of 22 vendors. So empty out those freezers so you have room to stock up on awesome local products. Remember, Thanksgiving is less than a month away.

Siraco Sharpening will also be in the parking lot just outside the market on Thursday. Siraco will be in the parking lot at 9 a.m. for early drop-offs. They’ll sharpen your knives, scissors, garden tools, and more.

Belmont Farmers Market Opens For The Season Thursday, June 2; 2 PM to 6:30 PM

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Photo: Scenes from the Belmont Farmers Market

Belmont Farmers Market opens for the 2022 season on Thursday, June 2 at 2 p.m. with its traditional fanfare, ringing of the market bell and a ribbon cutting at its home in the rear of the Claflin Street Municipal Parking Lot just off Belmont Center.

The market, run by the Belmont Food Collabrative, will be open on Thursday afternoons from June to October from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. with closing times at 6 p.m. in October.

This season, the Market is asking patrons to bring their brown paper shopping bags with handles along with non-perishable food donations when shopping at the market to the manager’s tent, and they will be donated to the Belmont Food Pantry.

Opening Day includes the market’s Food Assistance Information Fair. Meet representatives of local and state-wide agencies who’ll have info about how people facing food insecurity can stretch food budgets.

In 2021, our food assistance program added more than $37,000 to the budgets of shoppers who are facing food insecurity.

The Information Fair will help people learn about their eligibility for food programs. But we want everyone to know about these programs. Even in Belmont, often thought of as a very prosperous town, there are many people who need assistance to buy enough healthy food for their families.

Read the full press release about the Information Fair. And find out more about our food assistance programs.

Community & Events Tent Preview

2 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Inaugural Food Assistance Information Fair
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Performers A & W Ukulele Players
4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Storytime
4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Henna Art with Niyathi Srinivasan

Final Belmont Farmers Market Of Season Thursday

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Photo: See you next June!

After a summer and fall of Thursdays, the Belmont Farmers Market has reached the last week of the season, Thursday, Oct. 28. The market will be open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

For the final time in 2021, the popular market will be filled with vendors, music, activities, story telling and community information. And fill out a comment card and a survey to let us know what you think about the market.

The market is located at the Town Center parking lot, 10 Claflin St.

This week’s vendors include:

PRODUCE

  • C&M Farm
  • Dick’s Market Garden
  • Giant Gorilla microgreens
  • Hutchins Farm
  • Nicewicz Family Farm
  • Joyberry Farm mushrooms

MEAT, DAIRY & FISH

  • Hooked (Red’s Best Seafood + Boston Smoked Fish)
  • Lilac Hedge Farm
  • Round Table Farm cheese

BREAD, PASTRY & SWEETS

  • Hearth Artisan Bread• Mariposa Bakery• Sweetheart Vegan Bakery

PREPARED MEALS

  • Del Sur empanadas
  • Mei Mei dumplings
  • Chef Cyrille/Papa’s Ravioli
  • Valicenti Pasta Farm

SPECIALTY VENDORS

  • Flores de Cafe coffee
  • Just Hummus

EVENTS TENT & COMMUNITY TABLE

• Storytime: Belmont Books joins us to read stories from 4 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

• Performers: 2 p.m. A&W Ukulele Players

• Community Table: 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Community Organized for Solidarity; 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. Foster Parent Recruiter, Department of Children and Families.

BLM Sign Relocated At Belmont Farmers Market After Being Banished For Being Political Speech

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Photo: Black Lives Matter sign at Belmont Farmers Market

Since last summer, Black Lives Matter signs have become a familiar feature in Belmont placed on yards, fences, windows and cars showing ones commitment to the current drive for diversity and racial justice.

But last week one of the signs – located on the sawhorse barrier at the market’s entry – was removed by the Belmont Farmers Market at the request of town officials after a patron questioned the political nature of the sign. The reason for its removal is where the market is location; in the Claflin Street parking lot, a town-owned property and the message the sign conveyed was a political statement.

At Monday, July 19, Select Board meeting, representatives from the Farmers Market and its parent organization the Belmont Food Collaborative came to request some guidance on where, and if, it can include the sign that expressed its support for Black Lives Matters.

In its 15th year, Belmont Farmers Market is annually permitted by the Select Board to take about a third of the Claflin lot from the first week in June to the end of October fruit, vegetables, baked goods and other Farmer Market staples.

Hal Shubin said that since the murder of George Floyd and the resulting summer of protests the market to “explicated include our Black friend and neighbors” by placing this year a Black Lives Matter sign at the weekly market located on a barrier inside the market’s boundaries.

While the market voluntarily complied with the request, Shubin told the board when discussing another incident the Belmont Police told the market that while operating on town land, it can enforce its own market appropriate rules, which would include a message on its commitment to civil rights and inclusivity.

Shubin said while he understands that creating a sign placement policy for the entire town will be difficult, “we believe signs at the farmers market and one its equipment reflects our opinion and not the town’s.”

Saying it was surprising that this issue hasn’t come up in any great way in the past, Select Board Chair Adam Dash said a new Belmont sign policy will need to walk a fine line on what is acceptable “because this is going to continue to come up.” Board Member Roy Epstein said one of his main concerns is for the town not to be sued. “I’m all in favor of freedom of expression but I don’t want a scenario that we’ll be part of a law suit,” he said.

Town Counsel George Hall said first, a new sign policy must treat everyone equally on expressive activity on town property. At the market, each of the dozen weekly vendors have the opportunity to place a sign at their workspace, said Hall. But while not wanting to limit what a vendor can post, Hall said it would be in the best interest of the market and the town not to turn the space into “essentially a bill board where it could becomes a competition where lots of different people will want to put up a lot of signs.”

Suzanne Johannet, president of the Food Collaborative, suggested a compromise of placing the placard on the manager’s tent, where the market’s volunteer staff helps customers and vendors.

“That is a even more clear expression that it is our space,” said Shubin Hall said the tent placement is “maybe the best place to draw the line” while the town cobbles together a sign bylaw for public spaces in the next few months.

“That works for me,” said Shubin, a short term solution which the Select Board agreed.

Belmont Farmers’ Market Opening 2021 Season Thursday, June 3

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Photo: The Belmont Farmers’ Market

Opening Day for the 15th season of the Belmont Farmers’ Market will occur on Thursday, June 3 at 2 p.m. in the Town Center parking lot, 10 Claflin St. in Belmont Center.

Pandemic rules: The goal is to make everyone feel safe and comfortable at the Market, and has worked with the Belmont Health Department to develop this season’s rules:

  • Masks are encouraged for everyone, especially non-vaccinated people older than five years old.
  • This season, shoppers may select their own produce, but the market is limiting the number of people at each produce stand.
  • Read all of our pandemic rules for 2021.

Food assistance The market will match SNAP and P-EBT benefits, as well as WIC + Senior FMNP coupons to help all families take home great, local food. Most of the produce vendors are in the HIP program. See how food assistance works, or donate to support the program.

This season the market will have six new vendors (in italics), and 17 favorites from previous years. Many are weekly. Some come every other week, monthly or occasionally – get our newsletter so you know each week’s schedule. See what’s growing now on the farms.

Full-Time Vendor List

Produce: C&M Farm, Dick’s Market Garden, Giant Gorilla Greens, Hutchins Farm, Joyberry Farm, Nicewicz Family Farm
Meat, dairy & fish: Lilac Hedge Farm, Hooked (Red’s Best Seafood + Boston Smoked Fish), Round Table Farm cheese
Baked goods: Hearth Artisan Bread, Mariposa Bakery
Prepared foods: Del Sur empanadas, Drew’s Stews and More, Just Hummus, Mei Mei Restaurant, Tex Mex Eats tamales, Valicenti Pasta FarmAnd more: A-Butter almond butter, Flores de Café coffees, Hillside Harvest hot sauces, House Bear Brewing mead, Humble Bones Granola, Merton’s Maple Syrup

Opening Day Vendors

Produce: C&M Farm, Dick’s Market Garden, Giant Gorilla Greens, Hutchins Farm, Joyberry Farm, Nicewicz Family Farm
Meat, dairy & fish: Lilac Hedge Farm, Hooked (Red’s Best Seafood + Boston Smoked Fish), Round Table Farm cheese
Baked goods: Hearth Artisan Bread, Mariposa Bakery
Prepared foods: Drew’s Stews and More, Just Hummus, Tex Mex Eats tamales, Valicenti Pasta Farm
And more: House Bear Brewing mead

Belmont Farmers Market, July 2: Load Up For The Fourth

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Photo: Belmont Farmers Market

It is another great Market Day – sunny and toasty – in Belmont as the Farmers’ Market is open in the Claflin Street parking lot in the rear of Belmont Center.

The market is open from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes have been made to shopping run the market include social distancing, preordering when possible, masks and hand washing. We have a one-way path through a larger Market area. We have eliminated social events to reduce crowding. Read our Covid-19 safety rules for you, for us, and for the vendors.

Read all of our pandemic safety rules
Read all of our pandemic safety rules
BFM-CovidMap.png

Food assistance We match government benefits to help all families take home great, local food: SNAP (Food Stamps), P-EBT (for school-aged children during the pandemic), FMNP (for moms & babies, and for seniors). Most of our produce vendors accept HIP, which adds free produce for SNAP recipients.

This week’s vendors include:

Produce
• C&M Farm
• Dick’s Market Garden

• Hutchins Farm
• Neighbor’s Acre microgreens
• Joyberry Farm mushrooms

Meat, fish & dairy
• Lilac Hedge Farm
• Hooked Fish Shop w/Red’s Best fish & Boston Smoked Fish

Bread, pastry & sweets
• Mariposa Bakery pastries & bread.

Prepared foods
• Tex Mex Eats tamales.

And more
• A Seasoned Chef Spice Blends
• House Bear Brewing
• Flores de Cafe

Belmont Farmers Market Season Opener Thursday, June 4

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Photo: The Belmont Farmers Market opens this week

Summer is almost here and that means a Belmont institution, the Farmers Market, is opening for the 2020 season at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 4 in the Belmont Center municipal parking lot with the ringing of the market bell and the cutting of the tomato ribbon.

But this year, due to the ongoing pandemic, there will be changes to how patrons will be able to shop. This season, the market will operate more like an outdoor supermarket without the typical social events that residents have grown accustomed to and safety measures have been developed and will be implemented in consultation with the Belmont Health Department.

The shopping area will be limited to 40 shoppers, and there will be a one-way flow through the area, with a single entrance and a single exit. Vendor tents will be spaced six feet apart instead of being adjacent to each other, and there is a limit of three people standing at any tent. The entrance and vendor areas will have markings to ensure that shoppers stand six feet from each other.

Face masks and gloves will be required for vendors and Market staff. Shoppers must wear face masks, and are asked to shop alone. Shoppers may not touch products until they are paid for, and they will be encouraged to preorder or use credit/debit cards when they pay at the Market.

Vendors may not handle reusable bags, and must provide extra space or a screen between themselves and shoppers. Hand washing stations will be provided, and a portable toilet will be available for Market staff and volunteers. Extra volunteers will be on hand to manage the flow of shoppers. Vendors must check the health of themselves and their staff, and the Market managers will monitor the health of their staff.

Questions about the Belmont Farmers’ Market can be directed to: belmontfarmersmarket@gmail.com