You could say this week has a split personality: the rush of days leading up to Thanksgiving and the (minus Black Friday) more relaxing days just after. Fortunately, area farmers markets are happy to cater to both sides!
Pre-Thanksgiving
Take care of your last-minute shopping Tuesday at West Asheville Tailgate Market or Historic Marion Tailgate Market and Wednesday at Weaverville Tailgate Market, Montford Farmers Market or French Broad Food Co-op Wednesday Tailgate Market. All will offer local produce like greens and root veggies, local meats, cheeses, and baked goods ready for your recipes or simply to be served.
Post-Turkey Day
If you have any room left in your belly, Saturday markets will certainly offer lots of farm-fresh food—from produce to sweet treats. Head out to pick up whatever you didn’t get enough of on Thursday, whether apples, turnips, sweet potatoes or the like. If your friends and family ate up all the snacks in your house, grab some local popcorn, yes popcorn, from farms including Ivy Creek Family Farm (North Asheville Tailgate Market and Holiday Bazaar, Weaverville Tailgate Market) and Full Sun Farm (Holiday Bazaar)! You can put the ears in a brown bag and make just like microwavable popcorn or separate the kernels from the cob and pop away on the stove.
If you can’t even think of filling your house with more food but are thinking of holiday gifts and decor, markets are still the place to be this weekend—and with no frantic Black Friday crowds.
Sip a hot beverage and stroll tailgates with your gift list; more and more artisan craft vendors are joining these days. In fact, Historic Marion Tailgate Market turns into the Marion Fall Craft Market this time of year, offering an abundance of—like some other holiday tailgates—artisan quilts, jewelry, woodworking items, soaps, and more.
Even though the Holiday Bazaar at the site of North Asheville Tailgate Market doesn’t officially get under way until December 1, they will have local Fraser fir Christmas trees this Saturday. Asheville City Market (ACM) will also have trees, along with wreaths, beginning this Saturday and running through December from Corners Knob Farm. Hours for ACM change to 10 am-1 pm for the final four regular-season markets. They will reopen again indoors in January.
Additional markets open Saturday and into December include Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market, Jackson County Farmers Market, Yancey County Farmers Market and Madison County Farmers & Artisans Market. The Madison County market has changed hours, 10 am-3 pm, and now operates inside Fiddlestix in Mars Hill through December.
Weaverville Tailgate Market also runs holiday markets through the end of December. And, running December 1 through the end of the month, the new Grow Down Home Farmers Market in Black Mountain will operate at 105 Richardson Avenue from 10 am to 1 pm.
Find a more complete list of holiday/winter market dates with our online farmers market calendar and with this handy chart.
Fresh at Farmers Markets This Week
