101 Best Farmers Markets In America 2016
Returning for the third consecutive year, The Daily Meal is proud to present our list of The Best Farmers Markets in America.
An incredible aspect of learning how to cook is the opportunity to understand your food and how to use ingredients to achieve the best flavor. This process starts with finding the right produce, and farmers markets are in invaluable resource for this.
Click here for the 101 Best Farmers Markets in America (slideshow)
More than providing fresh produce to the community, the Farmers Market Coalition reports that farmers markets play a large role in preserving farmland, helping to support healthy communities, increasing access to nutritious food, promoting sustainability, and helping to stimulate local economies. It's a win for everybody!
In this report listing the country's top 100 farmers markets, 41 states are represented with California, New York, Minnesota, and Washington State having the market's share (pun intended) of coveted positions. Also notable, we've added 14 new markets to the list, a few of which even made the top 10.
When we set out to put this list together, we evaluated a number of key farmers market qualities to determine who to even consider — after all, there are more than 8,500 registered farmers markets in the U.S., according to the USDA Farmers Market Directory.
First and foremost we looked for the farmers themselves. We wanted our farmers market list to be produce-centric and to place emphasis on local farm participation over local artisan involvement — an ongoing goal of the Daily Meal team. As an example, Pike Place Market in Seattle was listed as our No. 1 market in 2014, but was removed entirely in 2015, because although Pike Place in an incredible market, only a small portion of it can really qualify as a farmers market.
Another main facet of our criteria revolved around the community and overall atmosphere at the market — local reviews from actual community members and market goers carried significant weight in this process.
Markets that included educational seminars, kids programs, or anti-hunger campaigns earned a good bump up on the list as well. Other rating parameters included the affordability of produce, accolades or recognitions, and, of course, quality of produce.
Take a look at the rankings to see how your own farmers market fared, and let us know if we missed any of your favorites! Also check out The Daily Meal's city pages for maps and other details on farmers markets in 23 cities around the U.S.
#101 Coppell Farmers Market, Coppell, Texas
#100 South Bend Farmer's Market, South Bend, Ind.
#99 Third Street South Farmer's Market Naples, FL
#98 Historic Downtown Hot Springs Farmers Market, Hot Springs, Ark.
#97 Black Hills Farmers Market, Rapid City, S.D.
#96 Sitka Farmers Market, Sitka, Alaska
#95 South Kingston Farmers Market, Kingston, R.I.
#94 Spa City Farmers' Market, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
#93 Bainbridge Island Farmers' Market, Bainbridge Island, Wash.
# 92 Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers' Market, Pacific Beach, Calif.
#91 Old Oakland Farmers' Market, Oakland, Calif.
#90 Cheverly Community Market, Cheverly, Md.
#89 Saturday Farmers' Market, Newport, Ore.
#88 Cape Ann Farmers' Market, Gloucester, Maine
#87 Oshkosh Saturday Farmers Market, Oshkosh, Wis
#86 Saturday Farmer's Market, Newport, Ore.
#85 Fort Collins Farmers Market, Fort Collins, Colo.
#84 Melrose Place Farmers Market, West Hollywood, Calif
#83 Jefferson County Farmers Market, Jefferson County, Wash.
#82 Farmers Market Annex, Minneapolis
#81 fresh52 Farmers' & Artisan Market, Las Vegas
#80 Fulton Farmers Market, Minneapolis
#79 The Greene Street Market, Huntsville, Ala.
#78 Saratoga Farmers' Market, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
#77 Delmar Farmers Market, Delmar, N.Y.
#76 Chewelah Farmers Market, Chewelah, Wash.
#75 32nd Street Farmers Market, Baltimore
#74 Boyne City Farmers Market, Boyne, Mich.
#73 Oregon City Farmers Market, Oregon City, Ore.
#72 Prescott Farmers Market, Prescott, Ariz.
#71 Statesboro Main Street Farmers Market, Statesboro, Ga.
#70 Schenectady Greenmarket, Schenectady, N.Y.
#69 Homer Farmers Market, Homer, Alaska
#68 Olympia Farmers Market, Olympia, Wash.
#67 Minneapolis Farmers Market, Minneapolis
#66 Kaka'ako Farmers' Market, Honolulu
#65 Capital City Public Market, Boise, Idaho
#64 Morgantown Farmers Market, Morgantown, W.Va.
#63 Haleiwa Farmers Market, Waimea, Hawaii
#62 Woodland Park Farmers Market, Woodland Park, Colo
#65 Redmond Saturday Market, Redmond, Wash.
#60 Saint Paul Farmers' Market, Saint Paul, Minn.
#59 Amherst Farmers' Market, Amherst, Mass.
#58 Market Square Farmers' Market, Knoxville, Tenn.
#57 Tacoma Farmers Market, Tacoma, Wash.
#56 Portland Farmers' Market, Portland, Maine
#55 Milwaukie Sunday Farmers Market, Milwaukie, Ore.
#54 Northeast Farmers Market, Minneapolis
#53 Downtown Topeka Farmers Market, Topeka, Kan.
#52 Midtown Farmers Market, Minneapolis
#51 Mississippi Farmers Market, Jackson, Miss.
#50 Lexington Farmers' Market, Lexington, Ky.
#49 Colorado Farm and Art Market, Colorado Springs, Colo.
#48 KCC Farmers' Market, Honolulu
#47 Capital City Farmers Market, Montpelier, Vt.
#46 Farmers Market of the Ozarks, Springfield, Mo.
#45 Kingfield Farmers Market, Kingfield, Minn.
#44 Ithaca Farmers Market, Ithaca, N.Y.
#43 Alabama Farmers Market, Birmingham, Ala.
#42 Alemany Farmers' Market, San Francisco
#41 Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Atlanta
#40 Fayetteville Farmers' Market, Fayetteville, Ark.
#39 Atlanta Farmers Market, Atlanta
#38 Boulder County Farmers Market, Boulder
#37 Lancaster Central Market, Lancaster, Pa.
#36 Downtown Farmers' Market, Des Moines
#35 Cherry St. Farmers Market, Tulsa, Okla.
#34 Hilo Farmers Market, Hilo, Hawaii
#33 The Market at Pepper Place, Birmingham, Ala.
#32 Santa Fe Farmers Market, Santa Fe
#31 SFC Farmers' Market, Austin
#30 Heart of the City, San Francisco
#29 Durham Farmers' Market, Durham, N.C
#28 Clarksville Downtown Market, Clarksville, Tenn.
#27 Gresham Farmers' Market, Gresham, Ore.
#26 Hope Farmers Market, Austin
#25 Baltimore Farmers' Market, Baltimore
#24 University District Farmers Market, Seattle
#23 Downtown Farmers Market, Salt Lake City
#22 Farmers' and Crafts Market of Las Cruces, Las Cruces, N.M.
#21 Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market, Washington, D.C.
#20 Little Italy Mercato Farmers' Market, San Diego
#19 City Market, Kansas City, Mo.
#18 Memphis Farmers Market, Memphis
#17 West Side Market, Cleveland
#16 Nashville Farmers' Market, Nashville
#15 Boston Copley Square Farmers Market, Boston
#14 Hollywood Farmers' Market, Hollywood, Calif.
#13 Burlington Farmers' Market, Burlington, Vt
#12 Charleston Farmers Market, Charleston, S.C.
#11 Omaha Farmers Market, Omaha, Neb.
#10 Eastern Market, Washington, D.C.
#9 Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, San Francisco
#8 Vancouver Farmers Market, Vancouver, Washington
#7 Davis Farmers Market, Davis, Calif.
#6 Crescent City Farmers Market, New Orleans
#5 Dane Country Farmers' Market, Madison, Wis.
#3 Portland State University Farmers Market, Portland, Ore.
#2 Union Square Greenmarket, New York City
#1 Santa Monica Wednesday Market, Santa Monica, Calif.