Georgia counts her eggs one by one as she fills her basket.
The opening of the Cherrydale Farmer’s Market at Dorothy Hamm Middle School on Vacation Lane April 4 is a sure sign of spring. Today the market features an Easter egg hunt at 10 am, along with sidewalk chalk to satisfy your inner artist and plenty of bubbles floating through the market.
Stephen Cunningham, the manager of the market, says although there is a lot of competition with other Easter Egg Hunts scattered at locations nearby, “We have the advantage of bubbles. Even adults like the bubbles. You should see their faces; where else can they find this kind of joy?”
The Cherrydale market has 15 local vendors this year (within a range of 125 miles) with some returning favorites like Anna’s Twist featuring a variety of empanadas, tropical drinks, unusual soups and sorbets and Baguette Republic with artisan homemade breads, muffins, baguettes and croissants.
This year there are several new vendors including LaCalderia with freeze dried beef broth; Ttu with fermented pickles, kimchi and sauerkraut; and the Cookie Bar, a micro bakery located in Arlington, with a variety of fresh cookies like citrus sugar, mini orange carrot cake and the ever favorite brown butter chocolate chip.
Cunningham says he has been running Cherrydale Farmer’s Market since at least 2016. He says the process began for this season back in December when applications came open for a spot at the market. “We got a lot of overlapping applications but, for instance, you only need one coffee vendor.” He says sampling of vendors took place in February-March.
In the background you can hear the chatter of children as the Easter Egg Hunt is set to begin. Charlotte Curry, the public relations director for Farm to Table’s family of markets, explains there are 200 eggs hidden around the area. “They have candy inside and stickers. And,” she adds, “there are some golden eggs.” A murmur goes up from the crowd. “They were donated by the vendors and inside they have a certificate for something at the vendor’s stand.”
The market runs April-November from 8 a.m.-noon, rain or shine.