Market Street is bustling on Tuesdays, Fridays & Saturdays all year long. Just outside of Lancaster city's square, you'll notice a beautiful, 120-year-old red brick building. The pretty building houses the oldest farmer's market in the entire United States! Lancaster's Central Market has been a functioning market, year-round, for 275 years. Pretty neat, don't you think?
I treked down to the market last Friday to pick up some locally-produced goods. You can find regional food specialties, delicious Pennsylvania Dutch delicacies, fresh produce and veggies, hand-made candies, flowers, crafts, and eco-friendly apothocary items. It's kind of a dream shopping scenario.
In 1995, the Central Market was marked as one of the "Great Public Places" in America. Really neat to have something like this right under my little toes. I think the Lancaster area has really become much trendier, in a classic kind of way, over the past few years. With history, art, entertainment, and a younger crowd, the city has never been better.
Of course, we can't forget about the Amish sub-culture that inhabits the Lancaster region, as well. I dislike it when people automatically associate Lancaster with Amish folk. There's way radder stuff here than just the Amish... but they do get prime parking spots at the market for their horse-&-buggies.
How's your local market? Get anything good recently? I was stoked about the soap (& carrot juice & cherries) that I picked up during this visit. All natural, home-made soaps... coffee scented and honey milk!
