North Salem Farmers Market looks to increase to weekly offering

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - The folks behind the North Salem Farmers Market are asking the town to greenlight their plans to kick things up a notch.

Launched in 2024, the market currently takes place on the second Saturday of each month from May to October on Back Street in Croton Falls.

According to the venture’s founder and co-director, Natalie Marie Gehrels, a recent survey found that patrons love the market, but would love it even more if it were held every week.

(Gehrels and her husband, Jonas Andersen, own Folkways, a wine and spirits shop located in a 1917 landmarked former train station in the hamlet.)

The market supports vendors selling everything from fresh produce, baked goods, flowers, and honey to cheese, pickles, kimchi, and seafood. There’s also live music and children’s activities.

It’s a community-centric effort, with cross promotions of events and programs generated by local organizations such as the Ruth Keller Memorial Library, The Rewilding School, Railyard Arts Studio, Caramoor, and the Katonah Museum of Art.

The market’s primary mission is to support local farmers. It follows guidelines set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In her presentation on the proposed transition made before the Town Board on July 8, Gehrels estimated that it had drawn more than 2,000 visitors this past May alone.

A survey taken before this season opened received more than 100 responses, which was, she said, “pretty good for the size of our community.”

It found that 75 percent of respondents lived within a 15-minute drive of the market and another 20 percent, within 30 minutes.

That shows that the market is serving both North Salem as well as Northern Westchester and lower Putnam counties, she said.

The survey also found that patrons were satisfied with the “quality and variety” of products and with the site’s accessibility.

Growing from a once-a-month market to a once-a-week one will take a lots of planning, organizing, and participation by its dedicated volunteers, generous sponsors, diverse vendors, and loyal customers.

“We want to do things right,” Gehrels told Halston Media, noting that the process has to get going by this September in order for her to button up all the logistics for the 2026 season.

They’ve been picking the brains of other farmers market organizers in the region for ideas, she said.

The town issues the necessary permits and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) owns the property on which the market takes place, so their backing is crucial as well.

“That should go smoothly … we hope,” Gehrels said, who noted that North Salem officials have been “very supportive in getting the market going.”

So far, there haven’t been any issues or complaints about trash or about its impact on parking and traffic, she claimed, adding that, so far, things have been “seamless.”

And it supplies its own portable toilets, something that local mom and pops that had been inundated – especially during apple picking season -- with visitors needing to use the loo must really appreciate.

It’s hoped that market clientele will continue to wander over and spend a few bucks at the other small businesses in Croton Falls.

Gehrels’ and Andersen’s own business doesn’t have “a presence” at the market, but it has noticed that customer traffic increases on market days.

“Our goal is that everybody benefits from it,” she said.

Weekly markets have several advantages, said Gehrels, namely “consistency” and a regular income for farmers and better access to fresh local foods for patrons.

Shopping or selling there becomes “habitual,” meaning that folks can rely on them, she explained, adding: “It’s a lift, for sure.”

Going weekly would also mean that the market might qualify to participate in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP, which provides food-purchasing assistance to low-income individuals and families.

Right now, there are certain individual vendors who accept SNAP benefits but if the market goes weekly, it could set up a system under which patrons could shop at any one they wanted to and the market itself could redeem the credits, Gehrels said.

One of the “asks” the market is making is to be able to temporarily store tables and chairs in a trailer on site.

(More seating was a big request, according to the survey.)

Setting up and breaking down those items is already labor intensive on a once-a-month basis. It will be even more of a pain if the market goes weekly, she said.

(The vendors supply their own tents.)

Since the DEP owns everything from the Croton River, which flows into the Muscoot Reservoir, to literally the paint on the back of the buildings on Back Street, they would have to get its OK.

Being able to plug directly into electrical outlets in the town’s existing street lights would also simplify things, Gehrels said. Right now, the market has to use extension cords to access electricity from a building across the way.

Because it’s a grassroots effort, the market’s continued success is going to take a big "leap of faith" on everyone’s part.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” she predicted.