These summery Friday evenings in Dixboro, mandolin- and guitar-picking provides background as folks stroll past canopied stands. Shoppers fill their baskets and bags with pickled eggs, lettuce, zucchini, garlic, beeswax candles, homemade jam, soft pretzels, and more. It’s no accident that the new Dixboro Farmers Market is a “throwback to yesteryear” (to quote dixborofarmersmarket.org –a surprisingly robust site that even lists a five-point “market dog policy”). Spokesman Joe Coffey waves his arm toward the mid-nineteenth-century church, schoolhouse, general store, and houses around the village green and explains that the market wants to “fit in with the feeling of history in the village,” on Plymouth Rd. just northeast of Ann Arbor. The dozen or so vendors come from as far away as Clinton and downriver Detroit; they’re set up by 3:30 p.m. on Fridays and can sell through 7:30 p.m. One month in, Coffey reports, “every vendor has been selling out every week.” That’s not a total surprise, considering the small and select fresh batch of both traditional and creative offerings. Maple syrup-laced French toast cupcakes with sprinkled bacon crumbles, anyone?
Meanwhile, a few miles away in southeast Ann Arbor’s Buhr Park, another micro-market has geared up for Tuesday evenings. The Cobblestone Farm Market is a partnership between neighbors and the Cobblestone Farm Association, which manages tours and activities at the early-nineteenth-century homestead and will make the farm animals available for viewing during market hours–4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Organizers hope to feature mainly organic, Michigan-grown produce, plus a couple of street food vendors. Find out more at www.cobblestonefarmmarket.org .
