Old Town Farmers' market, Thriving for 270 Years

BY GLENDA C. BOOTH

Every Saturday, some rise from their slumber at 2 a.m., load up their trucks in the dark with eggs, meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, baked goods, popcorn and flowers, drive to Alexandria and set up by 7 a.m. for the start of the Old Town Farmers’ Market.

They come from towns like Ortanna and Honey Grove, Pennsylvania, and Marysville and Frederick, Maryland. Some have shorter commutes, from suburban outposts like Chantilly and Sterling, Virginia, even Alexandria’s Eisenhower Avenue. Braving rain, snow, sleet, summer steam baths, whatever the weather, they greet a steady stream of customers for five hours.

By 8 a.m., the enticing aromas of buttery popcorn and frying sausages infuse the morning air and encourage “retail therapy.” Lines form for Hog Haven’s breakfast sandwiches, fried eggs and sausage, ham, bacon, fresh jowl or pork belly in an English muffin-type biscuit.

Shirlington resident Anna Deramus goes every Saturday. First stop: Hog Haven for a sausage and egg sandwich. “I like the atmosphere and the fresh air,” she said, as she introduced her mother from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Founded in 1752, the Old Town Farmers’ Market is the oldest market in the country held continuously at the same site, according to Jacqueline Woodbridge, the city’s editorial and media relations manager. When the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a law establishing Alexandria as a town in 1749, the law set aside two half-acre lots for a marketplace. Twice a year, by law, “fairs” were held at the marketplace. George Washington sent produce from his Mount Vernon farms. Today’s market is held on the same property, now called Market Square. In the growing season’s peak, around 70 vendors bring their wares.

Vendors for Every Taste

For 10 years, Kinley Coulter has traveled from his 220acre farm in Honey Grove, Pennsylvania, where he farms with his wife, Rebecca and seven children. They milk 50 grass-fed, Jersey cows a day for organic cheeses, yogurt, kefir, ice cream, butter and milk. He brings large white coolers packed with beef, lamb, pork and dairy products. Jeff Wools from Sterling, Virginia, has been selling at the market for 17 years. He runs Blue Ridge Dairy, an artisan creamery that makes applewood-smoked mozzarella, burrata and ricotta cheese and Greek-style yogurt. He gets the milk from Jersey cows raised on Winchester, Virginia, farms. It’s worth leaving home at 4:30 a.m., he says. “It’s a good market that has a good turnout.”

Papa’s Farm Market and Reid’s Orchard, from Orrrtanna, Pennsylvania, has been an institution at the market for 44 years, first the father, then his son, David Argento. Tables bulge with vegetables, like bright orange carrots, russet sweet potatoes and buff-colored Eva potatoes. John Arnold, who leaves home at 3:30 a.m., and helps with sales, explains that Papa’s brings vegetables from nearby farms, that Papa’s is primarily an orchard. He offers many kinds of apples and pears, plus homemade applesauce, pear sauce, apple butter and honey.

“It’s a great market for us,” says Joe Kenna, who drives from Chantilly, Virginia, every Saturday. His family-run company is Lobster Maine-ia and he brings a taste of

Maine to his customers, including Maine lobster meat. He also sells North Carolina shrimp, Chesapeake Bay clams and crabmeat, Faroe Island and king salmon, bluefin tuna and more.

Some vendors don’t have to start their commute in the wee hours. For eight years, Bert “Ram” Todd, founder of Alexandria’s Kiwi Kuisine, who has a shop on Eisenhower Avenue, sells hand-held, savory meat pies that he relished as a youngster in New Zealand. When he could not find any in the Alexandria area, he started his company with the theme, “It’s all good, mate!” Customers can preorder on the shop’s website for the Old Town market, order pies and rolls for local delivery and place orders for shipping a dozen or more. Brightening his table each week are big dispensers of mixed vegetable beverages. The green one, dubbed Kiwi Monster, is a mix of kale, kiwi, pineapple and lime.

Alexandrian Maribeth Nyerges is a 36-year Old Town market veteran who sells decorative cookies and pies made in her wholesale Colvin Street bakery. Many of her cookies have a theme, like baseball, Father’s Day or Halloween. Visiting Maribeth’s stall is a long-established ritual for Colin Surovell, age 16, a weekly customer. “Maribeth makes him feel special,” says his grandfather, Rob Surovell, who takes Colin every Saturday for “a bonding experience.”

Jim Gearing, who lives in Alexandria, goes every Saturday for fresh, in-season produce. The freshest of the fresh may be Helen Knower’s stand, King Mushrooms. She grows mushrooms indoors in Marysville on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and for six years has brought six kinds, including chestnut, oyster, cremini and portobello. “It takes two to three weeks to grow shiitakes,” she says. She also sells a homemade Hungarian soup, seasoned with paprika and dill.

For shoppers needing a little liquid pick-me-up, Alexandria’s Lost Boy Cider is at the ready, retailing up to 12 flavors of hard cider like red pepper, raspberry, cherry and jasmine and grapefruit and apples. Lost Boy also touts barrel-aged ciders that age in French oak barrels that once housed red wine, beverages with a “pleasant grippiness,” say their promotions. The newest offering is Bernadette, the first release of their new brand, “Lost

Girl Wine,” an original sparkling red wine in the “petnouveau” style. “Pet” comes from the word “pétillant,” French for “sparkling” and “nouveau,” which means “new.”

Then there’s Billy of Billy’s Flowers from Suitland, Maryland, who’s been coming for 20 years. In the summer, he grows flowers and he gets some from farmers. In the winter, he buys them from importers. Billy creates a friendly, colorful spot near King Street where he often gives away long-stem roses “to make people happy.”

The market’s customers seem very happy.

Square, 301 King St., in front of City Hall. It is open every Saturday, 7 a.m. to 12 noon. Parking is free during market hours in the garage directly under Market Square Plaza from 5:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. year-round. Access the garage at 108 N. Fairfax St. More garage and street parking is available in the surrounding area.

For more information, visit alexandriava.gov/OldTownFarmersMarket