by Mark Smiley
Connecting: Two Pals & A Pup has had good traffic during the first month of the Glendale Farmers Market. They have also made good connections with other vendors. Visit www.twopalsandapup.com for more information.
Saucy: Saucy Chops Food Truck is a Colorado born Food Truck that provides everyone’s classic favorites such as a chicken parmesan sandwich doused with scratch made sauces. Visit www.saucychops5280.com for more information.
Inaugural Year: The new Glendale Farmers Market has attracted a crowd of enthusiasts each weekend and it will run every Saturday through August 31, 2024.
The Hispanic Restaurant Association, in cooperation with the City of Glendale and the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce, started a farmers market in Glendale and the first month was a huge hit.
The farmers market is located at 4601 E. Kentucky Avenue in Glendale (the P1 parking lot near Infinity Park). It runs every Saturday through August 31 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The market is touted as an experiential farmers market, catered by the Hispanic Restaurant Association’s own chefs and different from the usual farmers markets around the area.
Hot Sauce: Mamas Peri Peri Hot Sauce is one of the vendors at the Glendale Farmers Market each Saturday. The sauce is an ancient family recipe carefully blended in a time-honored tradition of Portuguese culinary excellence. Learn more at www.mamasperiperi.com.
“The Glendale Farmers Market is fabulous,” said Kim Umbarger, Glendale City Councilmember. “It has a lot of variety. I am a farmers market enthusiast so I was expecting it to be tiny. But it had all the things. You have all of the really good produce, fruits, and there were games for my kids which I was not expecting. And there was music. I didn’t realize but the hill is shaded so you can sit on the grass and eat your snacks. I highly recommend it. It is a great market.”
The Glendale Farmers Market features multiple chef demonstrations, a Taylor Swift booth for the kids to dance, plenty of locally sourced sauces, vegetables, and more. The vendors are also pleased with the Saturday market. “We are pleased to be part of this farmers market in its inaugural year,” said Stacey Bennett, co-owner of Two Pals & A Pup. “We have had good traffic at our booth each weekend and we are appreciative for the opportunity the Glendale Chamber and the Hispanic Restaurant Association provided us. We look forward to the rest of the summer.”
Since USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service began tracking farmers’ markets in 1994, the number of markets in the United States has grown to 8,720, an increase of about 7.07 percent from 2013. Total annual sales at U.S. farmers’ markets are estimated at $1 billion. On an average market day, 916 households shopped across markets in the U.S. and spent $14,547 per farmers market. The Hispanic Restaurant Association is well positioned to make the Glendale Farmers Market one of the most popular and unique in the Cherry Creek Valley.
Visit www.glendalefarmersmarket.com for more information and to explore the vendors lined up for the summer.