Easton, Pa. — The city of Easton celebrated the 271st birthday of its farmers’ market Saturday with cake and remarks from Mayor Sal Panto.
The Easton Farmers’ Market, established in 1752, claims to be the oldest open-air market in the United States.
The regular season is May through December on the Riverfront at Scott Park. The winter season is at a different location.
- The Easton Farmers' Market is celebrating its 271st birthday
- It almost ceased to exist in the 2000s
- Members of the community fought to bring it back as a family-friendly event
Panto said the farmers’ market brings a lot of economic activity to the city every Saturday.
“We have a lot of great buildings going up and what I always say is that if all those buildings and the streets are empty, you have a Hollywood set,” Panto said.
“But once you have people coming together, you have a real community and that's what we're trying to create here is community — people in face-to-face social interaction.”
"The people in Eastern care. They want it, they're here in the morning and help us set up, help us take down, they're cutting birthday cake for us today. You know, they love and value what we have here.”Megan McBride, Easton market district director
Easton Market District Director Megan McBride said the market couldn’t continue this long without the buy-in from the community.
“The people in Eastern care, they want it, they're here in the morning and help us set up, help us take down," she said. "They're cutting birthday cake for us today. You know, they love and value what we have here.”
Back from the brink
The city’s farmers’ market almost vanished forever in the early 2000s.
McBride said it was tough it bring it back to life. Back then it was down to just a single vendor and the market was at Centre Square.
“It was challenging to convince vendors to come down and sell in Easton because Easton didn't have a great reputation at that time,” McBride said.
“There were a lot of vacant storefronts and there was a bit of concern about safety in the city.
“People began to see it as a fun, family-friendly place where they could come and spend a morning and enjoy themselves.”Easton Farmers Market patron Denny Posivak
McBride said they would go and pick peaches, blueberries and asparagus and bring them to the market because they didn't have enough farmers and vendors to sell those products.
They also would have special events to attract families — such as pie-eating contests and a watermelon shot-put competition.
“I think that's probably one of the market's biggest successes is just changing the perception of what Easton is,” McBride said. “People began to see it as a fun, family-friendly place where they could come and spend a morning and enjoy themselves.”
The market moved to the Riverfront during the COVID-19 pandemic and that has let it expand. It now has about 50 vendors.
There was another birthday at the Farmers’ Market Saturday.
Denny Posivak and his daughter Cori were feeding Windy the dog ice cream in honor of her 6½-year-old birthday. Cori said they go there almost every Saturday with Windy.
“It's just the variety and being able to buy stuff that's from local farms and support small businesses,” she said. “I mean, that's always great and everyone's so friendly and you know, gotta love the dog friendliness, too.”
McBride said she hopes the farmers' market endures for another 271 years.
