The indoor Riverhead Farmers Market returned for a fourth year Saturday, opening for the season with vendors familiar and new.
Longtime favorites like organic poultry farm Browder’s Birds were there, along with newcomers like The Bearded Baker and its gluten-free baked goods.
The weekly market, located at 117 E. Main Street in downtown Riverhead, is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through late April. Here are some of our favorites from week one. (more…)
Opening day at the 2014 indoor Riverhead Farmer’s Market. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder)
Expect a central location to grab your farm-fresh eggs, organic produce and baked goods when the indoor Riverhead Farmer’s Market returns to downtown Saturday, Nov. 14.
After expanding to two days per week last season, the market will once again only be open on Saturdays, according to Riverhead Business Improvement District Management Association president Ray Pickersgill. The weekly event will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through the end of April. (more…)
The Riverhead Business Improvement District Management Association is planning to eliminate the downtown outdoor farmers market next summer.
New York State has awarded Riverhead Town $700,000 for an agricultural tourism center and permanent farmers market location at the vacant Second Street firehouse, it was announced Thursday.
The money is coming in the form of two New York Regional Economic Development Council awards meant to help fund the renovation of the historic structure, and establish the “Town of Riverhead County Agritourism Visitors Center,” which would also serve as the location of the ever-popular farmers market.
But the decision of whether to follow through with that vision may not be up to the town. The firehouse is currently being sold to Suffolk Theater owner Bob Castaldi for $500,000 and the closing is expected in January, said Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter.
Mr. Walter said the town applied for the grant in August, an effort that was spurred by August Ruckdeschel, an economic development specialist with Suffolk County, and Riverhead community development director Chris Kempner.
“The firehouse was a wonderful location for it,” Mr. Walter said after receiving notice of the award. “We have been moving the farmers market from place to place, and wanted to have a permanent home for it, as the other buildings are still for sale.”
“It is great for us and it is great for Mr. Castaldi,” he said. “This will give him a leg up and hopefully be the impetus for a shining star for Second Street, the way the theater is for East Main Street.”
Mr. Castaldi told the News-Review that he believes it would be a great place for an information center, noting “everything that’s going on with the firehouse is up in the air until we actually go to closing.”
“I am very interested in the idea of the center,” he said. “It is a great possibility. It has got to be looked into a little more and it all has to be planned out.”
In July, Mr. Costaldi said that while the market has had success on Saturdays, it is unclear whether that success would continue if expanded to several days a week. In September, he said a brewery is one possible idea for the firehouse.
Since November, the farmers market has been open Saturday and Sunday.
Calling Riverhead the gateway to Long Island’s twin forks, Mr. Castaldi said he envisions the center as a starting point for tourists, where people could stop for maps and information before moving on to the wineries and growing lot of breweries.
“They can take off from here and maybe come back and have dinner or stay at one of the hotels,” he said. “It would really put the spotlight on Riverhead.”
Mr. Castaldi said a dollar amount has not yet been placed on the renovation, as a plan has yet to be finalized.
Mr. Walter said the idea is “great for Riverhead and it will help to clean up an area of Second Street that we hadn’t really focused on.
“We have tremendous police presence down there, and having a number of people on Second Street is only going to help,” he said, adding that the market presently brings about 1,000 people to its current location downtown every weekend.
Riverhead Farmers Market organizer Holly Browder and Riverhead BID president Ray Pickersgill. Credit: Vera Chinese, file)
The indoor Riverhead Farmers Market, one of the few weekly East End markets open through winter, will be open an extra day per week starting Nov. 16.
Read more details on northforker.com
The Tyre Lodge in Riverside held its first Easter Egg hunt Saturday, and lodge Conductress Theodora Midgette said they hope to make it an annual event.
Easter egg hunts and special masses were held in the Riverhead area Saturday as part of the holiday weekend. Here are a handful of photos taken at these special events. (more…)
Aldo Maioranna makes a cup of his famous coffee at his Greenport shop Wednesday. (Photo by Rachel Young)
Aldo Maiorana has been a mainstay in Greenport since opening his Front Street shop, where he has served his coffee, hot chocolate, scones and biscotti since 1993.