Lakeside Farmers Market opens

After months of planning and coordination among more than a dozen vendors, the Lakeside Farmers Market launched its 2025 season on Saturday, May 31, during one of the worst rains of the year.

More than four inches of rain fell in just a few hours beginning in the early morning and lasting until around noon.

Jeff Bialas of J&A Farm, remarked that since the soil was already pretty wet from previous periods of steady rainfall, some of the Black Dirt region’s agricultural sectors turned into small lakes. “When the rain falls in such high amounts the soil is unable to absorb it and ponds begin to form,” he said. “The forecast had originally said that we would get about 1 1/2 inches of rain but we got over four inches,” he continued, “and when that happens it’s inevitable that the ground needs time to reach an equilibrium. Thankfully we are expecting to get several days of dry weather and sunshine in the coming week and that makes me hopeful.” Bialas had several trays of vegetable plants on display for visitors looking to plant their own backyard garden, which included a few different varieties of tomato plants, peppers, and a wide selection of herbs, including basil, oregano, thyme, and parsley.

Flowering Sun Ecology Center, one of the season’s newer vendors, was born out of a communal vision to offer family and community beyond organic nutrient dense food grown in harmony with the Earth. They believe that working in cooperation with the land is the best way to learn and continually improve their growing practices.

Sam Newman-Plotnick, one of the Flowering Sun team members, said “they offer a large number of different mushroom plants, like lion’s mane and blue oyster varieties, with and other plant varieties, like sprouts.” Based in Ellenville, the farm started in 2017 to grow produce for their own family and community, but began to expand their team and vision. They started a tree nursery in 2019, and initiated a mushroom growing business the same year. Both have continued to flourish and grow, now in its fifth year.

Despite the rainfall, some of the vendors were pleasantly surprised by the turnout. Alex Kesso, proprietor of Kesso Foods serving Greek Yogurt, Tzatziki, Tirupita, (cheese pie) Spanakapita (spinach pie) & Baklava, revealed that he was pleased that so many customers arrived – more than he had expected – during such a rainy day. Chad Pilieri of Grow Local Greenwood Lake even had residents drop off food scraps for the community compost program!

Although a ribbon-cutting ceremony had been planned, the rain did not discourage several elected officials from arriving to help celebrate the start of the season. Warwick Town Supervisor, Jesse Dwyer, Town Councilman Floyd DeAngelo, and Greenwood Lake Mayor Tom Howley joined Market Manager, Karen Windrow (all wearing rain gear) in support of the award-winning Lakeside Farmers Market’s continued service to the Greenwood Lake community.

To Learn more about the Lakeside Farmers Market and the upcoming events for the season, click on GWLNY.org.