Attracting thousands of visitors each week, the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market is celebrating 25 years as a one-stop shop for the crème of the Valley’s crop.
Teems of shoppers. Scores of vendors. One jam-packed event. That’s what awaits locals and out-of-towners alike when they make their weekly pilgrimage to the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market, hosted every Saturday in downtown Troy. The bustling year-round market, which turns 25 this summer, is already in full swing at its outdoor location in Monument Square.
“It draws people from all over the region and even from out of state. Tourists come and people going up the [Hudson River] on boats pull into the docks and come get their stuff,” says Steve Ridler, who has been managing the market since 2018. “It’s pretty fun to see all that going on there.”
The market, which these days attracts upward of 10,000 patrons per week, has come a long way since its inception in 2000. At that time, the open-air event—which has always focused on “bringing the farm to the city,” Ridler says—featured about two dozen vendors who set up shop in a small parking lot on River Street. Before long, the fledgling attraction outgrew the space, relocating to (and continuing to expand at) Riverfront Park before ultimately finding a new home on the five city blocks the market fills today. But it’s not just the venue that’s changed; the market’s vendors, the number of which now stands close to 100, have diversified over time, too.
“[The market had] much more of a farmer base at the beginning. As it grew, the number of farmers increased and then the range of products increased,” Ridler explains. “You started to get cheese makers and cookie makers and maple syrup and jams. And then you started adding prepared food, too.”
This season, shoppers should expect an equally eclectic assortment of goods. The current vendor list (found at troymarket.org) includes everything from Albany Distilling Company and Adirondack Barkery—a Guilderland-based outfit hawking preservative-free dog treats—to Catskill’s dried flower-peddling River Garden and Keeseville’s North Country Creamery. More traditional farmers’ market purveyors, like Berlin-based Snowbarn Farm, which specializes in heirloom produce, will also be present in the mix.
“We have to have a certain number of agricultural producers so they’re the predominant part of the farmers’ market,” Ridler explains. “We don’t want it to be inundated with things that aren’t related to agriculture or agricultural products.”
After all, he adds, the vendors—many of whom participate year after year—have played a key role in the market’s success. Being able to regularly visit their favorite sellers keeps people coming back, Ridler says. Naturally, the festival-like atmosphere, bolstered in no small part by the rotating lineup of family-friendly musicians performing live each weekend at the event, hasn’t hurt either.
“We like people to just explore,” Ridler says. “If you’re used to [the market], you’ll find what you expected. And if you’re coming for the first time, you’re probably going to find more than you expected.”
