Keeping things fresh
There’ll be several new farmers joining the mix, this year, says Spektor, including Marina Michahelles of Shoving Leopard Farm in Barrytown, who will offer herbs and cut flowers, grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. The DePaolo cousins, Joe and Mike, from a family of mushroom-growers with a history at Greenmarket, will offer vegetables under the name Glasco Gardens, and Jay Spica of New Confectioner will offer 27 flavors of non-dairy ice cream and sorbets made with locally grown fruit. Also joining the Saugerties Farmers’ Market ranks will be Me-Oh-My Foods of Red Hook, featuring Debra Every’s pies made of seasonal local fruit.
In terms of new events, (spoiler alert!) talks are in the works with Sharon Penz-Rowan of the Saugerties Ballet Center possibly to do a “flash mob” at the Market. “I’m hoping we’re going to see ‘Movement at the Market,’” laughs Spektor. Another new event this year will be Grandparents’ Day on July 14, the plans for that still in development by committee member Joe Hernandez, who is the organizer.
“The market takes a lot of organizing,” says Benepe, “and nothing happens easily. If we didn’t have a really strong, productive committee of volunteers it couldn’t happen. And Judith is indispensable at the nuts and bolts of running it.” Spektor demurs: “We all work together,” she says.
An evolution
Spektor grew up in Washington, DC, and for years worked in New York City in the area of low-income and special needs housing, working for then-Mayor Ed Koch. This was during the time that homelessness was first coming into the forefront, she says, and her job was “kind of the finger in the dike to try to preserve SROs [single-room occupancies] as a low-income housing resource.” She went on to work as the director of an organization called the Parks Council, she says, to support, improve and promote parks and open space in the City. She’s retired today, which gives her the time to devote to the work that she puts in for the Market.
Other than an enjoyment of gardening that she got from her Mom, she “didn’t connect the dotted lines” about farming and eating local “until much later, completely through Barry,” she says. “The way I got into all this was because we would visit all of the many farmers’ markets, meeting the farmers and of course tasting the food. It just came naturally over time. I certainly wasn’t brought up with it, but once I got it, I really got it.”
Paying the piper
While the Market obtains some funding through the farmer fees charged, the primary form of financial support for the Farmers’ Market is through the series of Harvest Home Dinners held in September and October. “We do a number of dinners, and keep them small: eight to ten people,” says Spektor. “They’re in private homes, because that’s part of the allure of it. You get to be in someone’s home and eat the most delicious food, created either by the homeowner who is an exceptional cook or by a professional chef who comes in. Each dinner is different, but what you do know is that you’re eating market food, and it’s also a series of great social events.” The cost is $50 per person, and every penny goes to benefit the market, because everything involved, from time to costs, is volunteered.
Spektor says that it’s not an “insider” thing, but something that they wish more people knew about. “Once you’re there and you taste and talk and meet people, you get a little bit of the feel of the Market. Most people who have been come again.”
The Market has had a few financial grants in the past, says Benepe, but not many, and not continuing, but usually targeted for one aspect like publicity. “We depend a great deal on contributions, and this year for the first time, we’re actively looking for greater local business sponsorship. We’ve had that in limited numbers in the past, but this year we want to reach out to more of that.”
