Pop-Up Farmers Market at the Fall HillFest

By Suzanne Besser

No need for Beacon Hillers to trek their way up and down a grocery aisle this weekend. Instead, they can make their way to Mt Vernon and Brimmer streets where a Farmers Market will pop up Sunday between noon and 4 pm at the Beacon Hill Civic Association’s Fall HillFest.

At the Farmers Market, a first for the fourteen-year-old popular event formerly known as the Neighborhood Block Party, shoppers can stock up on specialties like cheese, milk and yogurt from the the 380-year-old Appleton Farms, hydroponic lettuce grown in recycled shipping containers at East Boston’s own Corner Stalk Farm, and meats, baked goods, flowers, cider, donuts and more from six other Massachusetts farms.

“There should be a wide enough variety for people to shop for the week,” said David Beardsley, a foodie himself who helped organize the pop-up market with the farm community at the Boston Public Market. “The vendors are enthusiastically committing extra staff and resources to our market. We’re hoping the neighborhood shows up in full force.”

So are the farmers, according to Public Market spokesman Amanda Campbell. “Pop-ups make sense,” she said. “It’s a way to expose our vendors to potential audiences. Setting up on Beacon Hill will be fun.”

Besides apple and cider, Red Apple Farm of Phillipston will sell their legendary cider donuts. Impossible to resist, 30,000 were sold during the first five days they were offered at the Public Market. Farm owner Al Rose said he’ll have plenty on hand Sunday. “We will be making them fresh at the market and restocking as fast as demand dictates,” he said. “I will have my running shoes with me to make sure I can run up a hill or across the greens with fresh racks of donuts.”

 It’s a good thing he is quick since he may have a trail of folks chasing him.

On hand for munching or bringing home will be fresh baked pretzels, breads and sandwiches from Allston’s Swissbakers and allergen-free baked goods from the Gourmet Bakery owned and operated by 22-year -old Jennifer Lee. She started the business when she was a senior at Chelsea High School and has been named New England’s entrepreneur of the year by Goldman Sachs.

Kate Stillman of Stillman’s Farm and Stillman Quality Meats said she too is bringing ‘lot of goodies from the farms,’ including poultry cuts, a selection of fresh sausages and house-smoked specialty items. “Plan to see a great mixture of seasonal fruits and veggies as September is the height of the harvest,” she said. “Tomatoes of course, great corn, peppers galore, apples and pears and the first of winter squashes, melons, root veggies and perhaps even a few raspberries – they are always a big treat!”

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