Well, that’s one way to keep your Coke chilled! Found in the snowdrifts on the side of Central Avenue.
Stirling street fair – 2
The Stirling Street Fair (which I touched upon yesterday) is your standard street fair— lots of food, lots of people trying to sell you things. The BBQ stand let me get a shot of cutting their second pig of the day for pulled pork.
“Reunited” sang classy doo-wop…
…and overall, the fair was… well, a fair. As fairs are.
There were also loads of people who were happy to talk to me even after it was obvious that I wasn’t going to buy anything. I didn’t get pictures of any of them, but they’re worth a mention, I think:
* Victor Davis, freelance writer and hobbyist sunspot-spotter, who brought out his solar telescopes for everyone to look through. I saw sunspots (in the white light wavelength) and feathery prominences (in the Hydrogen-alpha wavelength), neither of which I’d ever seen before.
* Luce’s Gluten-Free Artisan Bread. Mr. Luce, as it turned out, used to teach photography, so we got to discussing cameras. (And if there’s one thing I can blather on about, it’s cameras!)
* Restore, a furniture restoration shop on Main Avenue. The owner had his beautiful mostly-antique furniture in the street for everyone to look at, including a refinished carousel pig. Apparently he used to have *loads* of these carousel critters on hand, but that’s no longer the case, and he’s selling this one for a friend. He’s been running that little old store for 40 years!
All good fun. If you’re in the area, check it out next year! There was a lot more breathing room than there is at a lot of these overcrowded street fairs I’ve been to.
New Providence Street Fair 2012
Today is/was the New Providence Family Fun Street Festival! Kids from Elefante Music, a local music/performing arts school, were the first musicians to perform at the event.
Goats from the petting zoo thrilled the youngsters!
I finally had a cup of Zita’s homemade pumpkin ice cream, which I’ve been meaning to try for the past year and a half. It was yummy. ❤
All in all: well-attended, good fun, and a strong emphasis on the local community things that make New Providence what it is.
You can read more about the fair in my post from last year, or Patch.com’s thorough article.
Makin’ signs
This young lady from Race Farms (my favorite non-bakery cookie source at these markets) was editing the price sign for the Italian prune plums at the Summit farmer’s market this past weekend.
The market, as promised, moved to Beechwood and Bank Sts., just off of Springfield Avenue (the main artery of downtown Summit). Instead of commandeering a parking lot, which is usually how this sort of thing is done, they closed off a few side streets. It was a lot more obnoxious to find parking.
BUT LUCKILY, last weekend was the final time the market was held in that silly location.
As of Sunday, August 19, the Summit farmer’s market will return to its usual spot, in one of the free parking lots off DeForest Avenue. Woohoo!
Tomatoes love you
Heyo— just a reminder— the Scotch Plains Farmer’s Market is still happenin’ on Saturdays through November, from 8am-2pm. Yo.
The market is moving!
Will I ever tire of photographing this same shot at every farmer’s market I go to? I think not.
Incidentally…
…as of July 22 (next week), the Summit Farmer’s Market will be temporarily relocated to Beechwood and Bank Street, near the train station, for the rest of the 2012 season (or at least until further notice).
I hear that they’re repaving the DeForest lot where the market is usually held. Or they’re implementing some new parking system. Or something. Whatever the cause, today is the last day you’ll find the farmer’s market at its usual location!
Beanie beans
At the Scotch Plains farmer’s market, it’s starting to get into the season where the fresh produce is pretty interesting! As far as I can tell, these are wax beans. (All I know for sure is that the light was catching them very nicely.)
The Scotch Plains farmer’s market happens every Saturday, May through November, from 8am-2pm, at 430 Park Avenue.
Chard
As I’ve mentioned, the Summit farmer’s market has been a little skimpy on the fresh vegetables so far this season, but there’s been plenty of beautiful Swiss Chard, blanketed with ice chips to keep it fresh in the hot sun.
But we just exited Swiss Chard season, apparently, so no more of that.
Honeybees
This year, the Summit Farmer’s Market got started a month earlier than usual. While the vendors are happy to have an extra month of business, most crops aren’t ripe yet, so the produce stands are only selling garden plants, lettuces, root vegetables, and sad-looking strawberries.
This means the non-fresh-produce stands are really interesting right now.
Tassot Apiaries [site] brings a honeycomb with live bees to the market! The queen bee is included, too. She’s got a white dot painted on her back (for identification purposes; apparently it needs to be repainted a lot) and she’s a little bigger than the other bees. It’s fun to try to find her in the swarm!