More than 30,000 flock to Manassas Farmer’s Market for food, music, demos

The City of Manassas Farmers Market has had quite the season this year!

This season alone, there have been over 30,000 visitors to the markets. The City of Manassas Farmers Market runs three days a week – Tuesdays through August from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Harris Pavilion, Thursdays through the beginning of November from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Harris Pavilion, and Saturdays through November from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Parking Lot B, better known to many as the water tower lot across from the Train Depot.

The Tuesday night market began three years ago with the attempt to catch the commuters coming home on the VRE. While it is a smaller market, the 10 vendors range in items from produce and hot sauces to clothing and photography.

A big draw at the Tuesday evening markets is the free, live concerts. Each Tuesday, the Harris Pavilion hosts a musician for their special Take Out Tuesday summer concert series. Both events in conjunction with each other have continued to draw people downtown and see all that the City has to offer. The Tuesday evening market runs each summer from June through August.

The Thursday market is the City of Manassas’ one producer-only market. On Thursday’s the 20+ vendors range from delicious fresh herbs, veggies, and fruits to fresh meats and brewed coffee. The Thursday market often hosts groups of young children to introduce them to healthy eating and farming. Schools can contact the market manager to arrange a field trip to the market anytime throughout the market season.

Saturday morning markets have consistently been a favorite of market goers. This year alone they have had just shy of 21,000 visitors to this market.

This year the market acquired two sponsors. Robison & Robison Services, a local HV/AC company, is proudly sponsoring the weekly musical artists that perform. Each Saturday you can find artists ranging from country and bluegrass to a family of fiddlers and a local jazz ensemble.

This year’s second sponsor is Beazer Homes and has allowed the Manassas market to add monthly cooking demonstrations. The market vendors happily donate fresh goods and a local volunteer, Terry Lopez, cooks up a delicious and simple recipe for market attendees to watch and sample.

So far cooking demonstrations have focused on pickled veggies and mushrooms. Two cooking demonstrations are coming up in August – August 20 a teenage chef will be making gazpacho and on August 27 the recipe will focus on fresh peaches from Dodson produce.

Make sure to follow the City of Manassas Farmers Market Facebook page for specials, cooking demonstration schedules, musical performers, and more!