Robert J. Kafin, Chair of GrowNYC.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote “In the spring, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” May that always be so, but it is equally true today that for many New Yorkers spring also turns thoughts to Greenmarket, a collection of producer-only farmers markets that now blanket the City.
The first Greenmarket opened in July 1976 in a lot on Second Avenue at the Manhattan end of the Queensboro Bridge. Seven farmers sold produce at a once-a-week pop-up fair during the late summer season. Today’s Greenmarket has grown into a year-around program with 54 retail markets in all five Boroughs, where 230 family farms and fisherman from seven states bring regionally produced foods for sale to consumers.
The primary objectives of Greenmarkets are to promote regional agriculture by providing urban retail outlets for family farms, and to provide consumers in the City with convenient access to fresh, locally-produced foods. The 54 Greenmarkets occupy a diverse set of spaces, ranging from the great open plazas in Union Square to indoor spaces at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown and the Staten Island Ferry Terminals. Greenmarkets are also located on wide sidewalks on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills and along Columbus Avenue behind the American Museum of Natural History, in church yards such as St. Stephen’s on East 82nd Street in Manhattan, in temporarily closed streets like Union Avenue beside McCarren Park in Brooklyn, and in parking lots such as the one at the Staten Island Mall.
