Phoenix Farmers Market - the downtown farmers market

The downtown Phoenix Farmers Market is the place to be. They had a full contingent of farmers under a covered pavilion. It was set up next to an extremely popular restaurant that features local produce and products.

 The downtown market is under a covered pavilion.

Outside of the market, on the public streets were food trucks serving breakfast and brunch offerings. They had live music and tables and chairs set up. The market was packed with customers buying produce for the week.

They had a good mix of vendors that sold produce, meats, baked goods (sweet and savory), wool, soaps, plants, and a variety of items including canned goods and drink mixes.

$7 for eggs! Sold out!

The prices were a premium. I nearly choked on some of the prices but hey - good for them!

The market was hustling the whole time we were there. People were buying products for the week and had full bags - not one or two item purchases.

The vendor fees are interesting. They are $96 for a single space plus a percentage of the sales for the day.  

Unlike the Sighn Farms experience this was much more of a farmers market event. Folks could sit and enjoy snacks and meals from the food trucks. But it was not the same slower "come and visit" experience. Parking was on the street and easy to find. They did not have a lot of road signs but there was so much hustle around the market it was easy to find.

Phoenix has a farmers market culture much more similar to what I've been used to seeing. There seems to be a good market in each community that is well supported by the city.

Phoenix Farmers Market - visit to a CSA

On Saturday morning we visited a local farm to see their market set up. This is a CSA that is open to the public. They have a farm stand, food, and a beautiful tour of the grounds. It is set up as a meeting place for families and friends.

The Singh Farm is an event for folks to attend - it is not just a pick up spot. There are demonstrations, display gardens, walking tours, and a small petting zoos. The place was packed and the parking lot was full. There were tons of buyers and they were loading up with produce and other goods.

This was not a casual stop-by-and-get-something... the customers were shopping. There seemed to be a couple of vendors invited by Sighn Farms including a pork farmer.

The lines at the different check out stands were at least 10 people deep the entire time we were there. They had seasonal produce, juices, fermented juices, jams, jellies, honey, and a lot of baked goods.

We never nearly fought the guy in front of us for some pastries. Luckily they had more in the back.

There were a lot of artisinal style breads with one line just for those products.

These CSA produce basket were $40, basket not included.

Customers could pre-order a CSA box - but it did not seem to be entirely subscription based. When asked we were told that the boxes could be pre-ordered the week before until Friday monringThe produce was beautifully displayed in baskets. The price of the boxes was $40 and customers were very happy to pay that amount.  Customers could also buy produce in any amounts - just like a regular farm stand.

List of seasonal offerings. Produce was sold by the pound or in bags/packages.

Upon checkout the produce was transferred to customer's personal shopping bags. I did not see any Singh Farms logo wear of bags.

All of the produce was beautifully displayed in attractive arrangements.

There were plenty of places for customers to sit and chat. Many people brought a paper then enjoyed a coffee and pastry while enjoying the morning.

Clearly we don't have an outside venue but the clever way the produce was displayed, the friendly employees, the variety of products, and the attractive surroundings made visiting Sighn Farms a really fun Saturday morning. Customers were there for the experience and also to purchase food for the week. What a great business!

Food Truck Friday in Phoenix

The food scene in Phoenix is really vibrant!  The suburb of Gilbert has a Food Truck Court every Friday night. It's a lot of fun and has tons of community support.

A beautiful and fun night.

You can find out more information here and also here on their facebook page.

The food truck round up used to be right in the downtown area of Gilbert but they were pressured into moving by some of the restaurants. That did not hurt it's popularity at all. We went early (about 5:30pm) and there were lots of people and tons of fun food choices. As a first time visitor it was hard to decide what to get.

They had the event in a wide, spacious parking lot near a popular new movie theater complex. There was plenty of parking. Tables and chairs were set up, music was playing, and they had security at hand.

There were tons of choices.

There were a lot of families, people with their dogs, and groups of friends.

Most of the food was chic, trendy, and had an international edge.  This was not "fair food" but upscale, well prepared interesting food.  They also had a few vendors selling arts, soaps, etc.

I got the diabeetus from this and I don't even care.

We all got something different, beef sliders, poutine style fries, Chinese pork belly on fresh rolls, shrimp fried rice, and fresh mini donuts. But the hit of the night was the Hot Mess cinnamon roll with bacon, maple cream cheese...and nutella.

Phoenix does a terrific job of doing community events. There is always something going on and it's normal folks to go and participate. The events are well organized, well orchestrated, and are clean, fun, and set up really well.

I wonder if we would be able to integrate something like this for a Wednesday night market?