The Melrose Messenger

Farmers’ Market Season is Here!

By Ellen Putnam

Melrose residents of all ages will be excited for the return of the Melrose Farmers’ Market this coming Thursday, June 5th. The Farmers’ Market, which will run on Thursday afternoons, 1-6pm, through October, will feature many beloved vendors and events while bringing a few new ones into the mix. And supporters should mark their calendars for June 21st, when everyone’s favorite fundraiser, the Urban Garden Tour, returns, giving residents the chance to peek into their neighbors’ gardens.

The Farmers’ Market, which has been running for over 30 years, draws people to Cedar Park each week for farm-fresh produce, a variety of prepared foods, local crafts from a rotating group of vendors, live music, and family-friendly activities and events each week.

While visitors shouldn’t expect any dramatic changes to the Farmers’ Market’s tried-and-true format, there will be a few new additions this year.

Steph Zabel, who has come on board as Market Manager this year, will bring her expertise in herbalism, plant science, and community organizing to the role. She founded Herbstalk, a community gathering and marketplace held semiannually in Somerville that is focused on plants and the natural world. “When I saw the job posted,” Zabel said, “I was very excited, because that’s a lot of what I do with my other event: bringing people together, highlighting small businesses, and creating community spaces.”

Zabel shared that, in addition to the anchor vendors who are returning this year, there will be a few new vendors added to the rotation, including some new prepared food vendors. One exciting new addition: The Bread Shop will be teaming up with The Kitchen to offer prepared food, similar to what is now on offer at the new retail storefront inside The Kitchen.

The variety of vendors at the Farmers’ Market - some of whom are there every week, and some who are only there occasionally; some who come back year after year, and some who are there for the first time - is central to the market’s mission. “For some companies, it’s kind of a business startup venture,” explained Executive Director Kristen Schreck. “They can try out their business at the market, and see how it goes.”

The Farmers’ Market also serves an important role in the community as a source of high-quality produce for families who receive SNAP benefits. Those families can use their EBT cards for purchases at the market, and the Farmers’ Market will match up to $10 of spending.

For Schreck, whose background is in both nutrition and business (“My passion is food security," she said, “and getting more healthy food into people's hands.”), the SNAP match program is a central part of what the Farmers’ Market does.

Last year, the Farmers’ Market provided $17,500 in SNAP matches. “It’s a huge asset to both the customers and the vendors,” said Schreck. “It increases the purchasing power those customers are able to have. They can go and get their fish and bread,” she went on, “and they can save their cash to buy soap, or other artisan goods.”

While the Farmers’ Market accepts donations to their SNAP match program yearround, their largest fundraiser this year will be the Urban Garden Tour. Heidi Barazza, who Melrosians may know as the former owner of Dogwood Cottage, and now the owner of Garden Aglow, is working with Schreck to organize the event.

The event began, pre-COVID, as the Urban Farm Tour, with a focus on vegetable gardens. In recent years, the scope has widened to all kinds of gardens: “herb gardens, native and pollinator gardens, vegetable gardens, traditional gardens, and contemporary outdoor living design,” described Barrazza.

This year’s tour will feature twelve gardens across Melrose: “We had fifteen gardens on the list last year,” Barrazza explained, “and that was just too much racing around. We wanted to make it a little more tenable for particapants to see all of the gardens in three hours.” For those who went on the Urban Garden Tour last year, most of the hosts will be new, except for some perennial favorites: notably, the famous Melrose goats.

For some visitors, the Urban Garden Tour is an opportunity to explore new places in town. (“I’ve lived here forever,” said Barrazza, “and I’ve gotten to see neighborhoods I’ve never experienced before on the tour.”)

For others, it may inspire them to do something new with their own gardens. “Someone on the tour last year over on Lake Avenue pulled out all of their grass and made a pollinator meadow on their front lawn,” Barrazza described. “They had bunnies, birds, and butterflies, all in that small space. It was its own little ecosystem. Now I’m almost ready to pull out all of my grass, too!”

The Urban Garden Tour, on June 21st, will be accompanied by a plant sale on Stratford Road, with sales benefitting the Farmers’ Market. And both participants and other community members are invited to gather at Cedar Park between 8:30 and 11am to buy tickets, pick up tour maps, and enjoy coffee, Mama Jean pastries, and live music by Patrick Synan.

“The Farmers’ Market is a special place for the entire community to come together once a week,” reflected Zabel, “and we need these spaces now, more than ever.”

To learn more about the Farmers’ Market, visit their website. You can buy tickets for the Urban Garden Tour here.

Posted June 1st, 2025