Outdoor markets are a staple of any small town in the Hudson Valley, and New Paltz is no exception to that rule. Not only is there an outdoor Farmer’s Market on the college campus every Thursday, there is also the New Paltz Open Air Market on Church Street every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Open Air Market provides a space for local farmers and artists to gather and sell their goods to the community of New Paltz. The market is organized and managed by Adrianna Bosco.
The market offers a wide variety of products, including olive oils from Luigi’s Oils, and fresh produce from local farms like Tributary Farms, Wrights’s Farm and Apple Orchard. The market also sells baked goods from Moonflower Breads, among others.
“This is my favorite street in New Paltz, and I grew up [here],” said Lucy Moran, the owner of Moonflower Breads. “So it’s a nice spot for the market and it brings people down from the bistro when they’re waiting for food. It’s a nice group of vendors and everyone’s really lovely to each other. It’s a really good market.”
The market is also a space for artists to sell their creations. Don Sparks of Don’s Polaroid Portraits offers vintage Polaroid photographs for customers, Alexa Floresta of Crust and Magic sells her own custom clothing and Xek Noir sells mixed media artwork.
“Crust and Magic is a brand I’ve been developing for a couple of years now which features all my original art and illustrations on handmade goods, a lot of apparel and different kinds of merch,” Floresta said.
“By putting my work on merch and commodities, it allows me to get my work out in a way that’s really cool, in the way that sort of has a life and it’s living with people,” she added.
For many vendors, they consider the New Paltz community to be incredibly warm and inviting towards them.
“It’s [been] great, it’s fun to be here,” said Todd Ridolph, the owner of Pancake Hollow Sugarworks, a maple syrup producer partnered with Hudson Valley Ale Works.
“People come from all over the world. Every week a bottle of syrup goes out of the country, to Australia, Brussels [or] China,” Ridolph said. “I appreciate the community for supporting local businesses. All of our customers, we’re grateful for them, and whoever else in the town is supporting the market here.”
One thing that vendors want is more involvement with the SUNY New Paltz community.
“I think it’d be really cool if SUNY was more involved with us,” Moran said. “I think it would be cool to have student tables and stuff here.”
The Open Air Market is set to meet up three more times on Oct. 13, 20 and 27 before closing for the winter, so be sure to stop by for some great locally grown food while you still can!