This farmer's market is much more than what we expected. For one thing, it is absolutely enormous…read more There must have been at least 50 vendors present selling everything from breads, cheese, vegetables, etc. to fresh flowers, plants, belts, and cooked foods. They are open year round on Wednesdays and Saturdays 7am to 2:30pm.
Two striking things: one is local shoppers' willingness to pay a premium for premium quality. The fruits and vegetables are clearly local and likely organic. For example, the strawberries are really small compared to what we can get in the US. People come out to support their farmers' markets regularly, making these markets viable and sustainable. The other thing is just how customized these trucks are. They are not the normal boxes you see in street fairs like San Gennaro's in Manhattan's Little Italy. Vendors have invested significantly to contribute to the farmers market experience.
Finally, I can't say enough about the space that makes this possible. The entire market is within the cobblestone courtyard around St. Paulus Dom which is enormous. Like Heilig Kreuz, St. Paulus Dom is ringed by a road, which permits parking for cars and bicycles on both sides. In other words, there is no enormous asphalt carpark creating a heat sink. Instead, the courtyard is planted with trees. Even then, most of the patrons must have walked or bicycled, because there were available parking spaces for cars on the street level! Granted, there is an underground carpark located not too far away, but still a decent distance by foot. The only people we saw entering vehicles located in the above-ground parking area were people with mobility challenges. Younger children were in strollers that double as carriers attached to bicycles. Older children came with their parents powering their own bicycles.
