It’s a busy week on Hanover Street in Boston. 35
agricultural and farm vendors from all over New England are moving into their
stalls in preparation for the grand opening of the Boston Public Market (BPM). A
self-described “permanent, year-round,
self-sustaining market featuring fresh locally-sourced food brought directly to
and from the diverse people that make up Massachusetts and New England,” the
BPM will be both a showcase of agriculture in New England as well as an active,
functioning marketplace. The BPM will open to the public on July 30th.
Image courtesy bostonpublicmarket.org
Occupying over 28,000 square feet of retail space
and with 325 available parking spaces, the Boston Public Market is the local
farmers market on an enormous scale. A partnership between the Boston Public
Market Association, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of Boston,
various foundations, and individual and corporate donors, the BPM is a
massive and ambitious undertaking, and is claimed to be the only
locally-sourced market of its kind in the United States. (SOURCE). The BPM’s
organizers hope to create a space that will not only allow people to taste and
purchase products, but also educate them about their food: how it is made, its
nutritional value, and its impact on the environment.
The Boston Public Market is focused on the retail,
consumer products side of agriculture. The vendors come from all corners
of the region and embody all the flavors of the New England farm and ag community—from dairy
to fishing to beekeeping to brewing. Though the majority of the BPM’s vendors
are from the state of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont are also
represented in this initial incarnation of the market. The two vendors from
Vermont with stalls at the BPM are The Cellars at Jasper
Hill, an artisan cheese maker from Greensboro Bend, VT who specializes in aging
single-herd sourced cheeses, and Harlow’s Vermont Farmstand, a diversified farm
in Westminster, VT that focuses on organic produce. A complete list of BPM
vendors can be found HERE.
The Boston Public Market is located above the
Haymarket MBTA Station at 100 Hanover Street in Boston. Once open, the market’s
hours will be Wednesday-Sunday from 8am-8pm. Applications for potential vendors are still
being accepted, and those interested in applying are asked to fill out an application (they can be found HERE). Those
interested in working on location for the vendors at the BPM can find
information on how to apply HERE. For more information about the BPM, visit
their website: https://bostonpublicmarket.org/
