Feasts Abound at the Farmers Market

From apples to zucchinis, from auctions to collectible zebras, farmer's markets offer a feast of fun.

Where can you watch huge sheets of sticky buns being rolled, sugared and cut for the oven? Buy an East German Army overcoat? Have your hair cut while the kids play with slot car racers? Munch on treats like wood-smoked, barbecued ham, hand-cut French fries, turkey sausage sandwiches and gourmet soft pretzels? And shop for fresher-by-far-than-grocery-store breads, meats and produce?

Three area farmers markets offer just such treats and more! A trip to the farmer's market is more than mere shopping. It's tasting, smelling, browsing, discovering ... spending a few hours in an uncommon atmosphere not found in strip malls and shopping centers. All three are indoor, year-round markets, each with its own unique mix of fresh-from-the-farm food, staples and other goods for sale every weekend.

ALLENTOWN FAIRGROUNDS FARMERS MARKET
*Allentown*

Food, food and more food. This is the grandaddy of food-centered markets. Located in a sprawling, barn-red building on the Allentown Fairgrounds, the market has 50 vendors and a conventional grocery store. Walk down the wide, clean aisles and your eyes and nose are dazzled with choices.

Looking for fresh produce? Several stands offer the pick of the season. Apples, oranges and cabbages are piled high along with local seasonal produce -- strawberries in June, peaches in August, zucchini and squash in fall. They're all here for customers tired of waxy, tasteless, picked-too-soon food.

Want low-fat alternatives to beef? Mr. Bill's Poultry Market has turkey London broil and ground turkey breast. Need something sumptuous to serve to guests? In several meat cases you'll find chicken breasts stuffed with crabmeat, smoked cheese and broccoli.

The Amish Village Bake Shop has the usual bread and donuts, Shoo-Fly and Funny Cake but they also carry peanut butter and Key lime pies along with fresh-baked sticky buns.

The market has been at the fairgrounds since the 1950s, according to manager Cecilia Moll. "All our stands are owner-managed and we encourage a one-on-one experience for the customer," she says. "People like to make shopping here a social experience." Unlike Renninger's and Quakertown, the Fairgrounds Market has remained "95 percent food," says Moll. "We're very fortunate to be able to keep the focus on exceptional quality food."

Dorothy Hauck, of Catasauqua, has been shopping here every Friday morning for over 35 years. "The produce is wonderful. So is the fish, the cheese, everything. It's all great," she says. Seeing and smelling all this food demands that you eat something. Dan's Bar-B-Que has hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes or filling and hot chicken turnovers. Auntie Anne's has soft pretzels in unusual flavors -- raisin/cinnamon, garlic, cheese, with several different dipping sauces.

Stop at the Bowery Pickle Company. Owner Lynn West says, "You name it; we've pickled it." They carry six kinds of pickles you buy right out of the barrel. They also have pickled tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, baby corn and 16 kinds of olives.

Dessert! Picture a 10" high, double-crusted apple pie, Death by Chocolate Cake or Creme Brulee'. These are only a few of the items in the case at Maison Blanc.

The Fairgrounds Farmers Market is a delight for the serious, particular food shopper. It sure beats pushing a cart through another cookie-cutter grocery store, buying your food frozen or shrouded in smell-free plastic.

QUAKERTOWN FARMERS MARKET
(Q-Mart)
*Quakertown*

This Bucks County market has been in business for the past 60 years. More than 150 vendors sell everything from food to furniture. There's also an indoor flea market year-round and more vendors outside in the summer.

The "Q" is housed in a long, low rectangular building that's been added to and changed many times. In fact, the indoor flea market consists of a series of whitewashed buildings that once served as cattle markets. Old animal stalls and concrete floors still echo with moos and oinks.

The main market is where the food is found. Produce, meat, fresh-ground coffee, bagels baked on-premises, seafood, fresh pasta -- everything you expect at a farmers market. But, the uniqueness of the Q-Mart can be found in the conglomeration of other goods offered.

Take Lou's Surplus. Here are bin after bin of tools, washers, tarps, casters, chains -- hardware items new and old. Need porcelain knobs for your 1970s kitchen cabinets? Lou has them in avocado green -- the color we all thought died a quiet death. Need a German Army overcoat, pants and shirts? You'll find them at Lou's along with G.I. raincoats and U.S. Navy uniforms. Men love browsing at Lou's!

Kids love the Dollar Store, because they can buy books and toys for $1 each. For the family cook, there's a wall of kitchen gadgets ranging from garlic presses to rubber scrapers and such exotica as a 5" tall Madonna nightlight -- all for only $1.

Need a haircut? There's a barber shop for Dad and a beauty salon for Mom.

At Fleck's Sticky Buns you can watch dough being rolled out in large sheets, buttered and sugared, then wrapped into a long snake, cut into buns and baked to sticky perfection. The smell alone will make you drool!

The "Q" has a discount record store with the latest CDs at lower-than-mall prices. If the kids like slot cars, bring them along to race on the indoor track.

Larger than two football fields, the Quakertown Farmers Market's mix of the practical and the curious has plenty to interest the mall-weary family on a weekend afternoon.

RENNINGER'S ANTIQUE & FARMERS MARKET
*Kutztown*

Speaking of antiques and "junque," Renninger's probably holds a record for the most year-round vendors of everything from collectibles to crockery, furniture to falderal. Every Saturday 250 antique and collectible dealers ply their wares in the crowded aisles at Kutztown while more than 100 stands sell foodstuffs in the adjoining farmer's market. From April to November, add an outdoor flea market with as many as 200 vendors, and you've got hours of shopping and snooping fun.

Start at the end of the building closest to the street where you'll find Martin Brothers Produce and Glick's Homemade Pastries. Sweet corn, peaches, string beans, apricots; potato cake, herb bread, sticky buns, apple butter; unusual jams like rhubarb and gooseberry are all home-grown or home-made.

Entrance to the farmer's market is through the Country Meadows shop. Here, the ceiling is festooned with bunches of dried flowers, and the air is filled with the smell of candles. Tables and shelves hold old-fashioned Christmas ornaments, hand-made rag dolls, and hundreds of other country decorative items.

Inside the market a display of tombstones will surprise you. Eileen L. Myers of Womer Memorials says they get many referrals when shoppers see their unusual stones. Granite memorials can be made with "scenic designs" -- covered bridges, deer, flowers and even an 18-wheeler driving through the countryside.

There are the expected butchers, bakeries and produce stands in the farmer's market -- Steigerwalt Meats, Rentschler's Bakery, the Plain and Fancy Donut Shop.

There's also a sneaker outlet, Ye Ol' Barber Shop, Indian Treasures (Southwestern jewelry), a Tupperware stand and a sock mart. Stop at Aunt Jennie's for Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs. She's got them as small as refrigerator magnets and as large as 18 inches round. At Csencsits Health Foods you'll find tubs piled high with dried fruit -- even dried cranberries ­ and a huge variety of nuts.

When you get hungry, Moyer's French fries, which are "wunderbar," are served right from the fryer and double-wrapped in aluminum foil and paper towels to keep them hot and crispy. A fish stand serves crab cake and flounder sandwiches.

An unusual shop is The Main Artery & Will-O-Wood, Too. Artist VicRobbins takes large gourds and turns them into whimsical cats, Santas, chickens, elephants, cranes and pigs. Each is a one-of-a-kind collector's piece. His partner, Woody, grows the gourds at his Will-O-Wood plant house in Moselem Springs. The shop also sells carved, three-dimensional styrofoam paintings by Robbins.

It's time to venture into the antique mart. Turn the corner and pick your era. How about a 19th century Indo-Persian helmet or a hundred-year-old typewriter from Americana Antiques? Fancy an old slot machine or a wheel of fortune? You'll find a stand that is jammed with such old arcade games.

The long, low halls of the antique mart are a warren of riches for those interested in yesterday's leftovers. Lorraine Andrews and Dolores Hauck, both from Allentown, drive to Renninger's about once a month to "feed our faces" and look at collectibles in the antique and flea markets. "There's so much here. We like to compare the prices with what we have at home," says Dolores.

Outside, the flea market occupies a large pavilion and spills over onto lines of outdoor tables. Books, jewelry, glassware, golf balls, crafts, homemade pies, cakes and canned goods -- they're all here. Bill Sadaka sells Griswold cast iron items and says he's so well-known for his specialty that people call him "Mr. Griswold."

Fresh food, antiques, huge summer flea markets, with everything from tombstones to Tupperware, Renninger's is a Saturday shopper's bonanza.

Farmers markets have been a weekend tradition in Pennsylvania for hundreds of years. They offer good food, oddball items you won't find anywhere else and a mix of the old and new (including the people) that's fascinating to the curious. So, pack up the family and join the tradition at these nearby markets.

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HOW TO GET THERE

The Allentown Fairgrounds Farmers Market is at 17th and Chew Streets. It's open Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Fridays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. For information, call (610) 432-8425.

The Quakertown Farmers Market is at 201 Station Road. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For information and directions, call (215) 536-4115.

Renninger's is on Noble Street, one mile south from the center of Kutztown. The farmer's market is open Friday, from noon to 8 p.m., and Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The outdoor flea market opens Saturdays at 7 a.m. and the indoor antique mart opens at 8:30 a.m. For the most selection, go early. Vendors start to pack up around noon. For information, call (610) 683-6848.

For a booklet listing farmer's markets throughout Pennsylvania, call the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture at (717) 787-4210 or contact your local Agriculture office.