The West Chester Growers Market is a truly local market. Only handmade, or homegrown products, produced or harvested by the vendors themselves can be sold at the market. You’ll find flavorful farm produce, colorful cut flowers and bedding plants, free range meats, oven fresh bread, artisinal soap, locally produced cheese, homemade preserves & relishes and a variety of fresh baked goods to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Our producers love getting to know their customers and are happy to share details about the products they grow and make. It’s this interaction that makes the market so special.

Vendors:

Big Sky Bread Company
Patrick O'Neill

Blueberry Hill Farm
Clyde, Peggy & Luke Dearolf

Bryer Apiary
Jeff Bryer

Chile Spot
Jeff & Joanne Porter

Elkdale Farm
John K. Stoltzfus

Elkdale Greenhouse
Jacob S. Stoltzfus

Ellen April Handcrafted Soap
Ellen Watson

Fahnestock’s Fruit Farm
Keith Fahnestock

Heady Pets
Colleen Mader

Highland Farm
Martha Pisana

Hilltop Farm
John King

Lindenhof Farm
Axel & Sue Linde

Lizzie’s Kitchen
Lizzie King

Maple Hill Farm
Paul & Carol Hauser

North Star Orchard
Ike and Lisa Kerschner

Oak Shade Cheese
Israel Kinsinger

Oley Valley Mushrooms
Joe and Angela Evans

Queens Farm
Xiuquin Qin & Zuohong Ed Yin

Red Earth Farm
Michael Alhert & Chris Lindrooth

Schaeffer Flowers
Beverly Schaeffer

Stargazers Vineyard
Brian & Jennifer Dickerson

Sera Dolca Culinary Services
Domenick Rowe

Talula's Table
Aimee Olexy and Bryan Sikora

Windy Acres
Abram Stoltzfus

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Our original goals in forming this market were two fold: first, to create marketing opportunities for local farmers and second, to bring quality local fruits and vegetables into local communities. Idealistic and beneficial as these goals may seem, they originally faced opposition. In fact, that first year, two communities turned down our request to start a growers market and our plans were put on hold.



In the early winter of 1995, a letter was sent off to the Borough of West Chester, our third choice of location, to see if they perhaps had interest in hosting our Growers Market. And we simply could not have had better timing. The Borough was actively looking for ways to revitalize a slumping downtown and a farmers market was on their agenda. The Borough got right behind the idea and offered the growers the choice of several different locations. Our original choice of the parking lot on the corner of Church & Chestnut Streets still is the current home of the market.



The market opened in July of 1995 to a receptive audience that has continued to grow every year since. And even though West Chester was not our original choice, it has proven to be absolutely the best choice we could have made. Through the years, the market has continued to grow, constantly looking for farmers, bakers and craft makers who will add more uniqueness to the market. Originally, there were 10 farmers who opened the market and we are very fortunate to still have four of those families still in the market; the Stoltzfus’s, Fahnestock’s, Kerschner’s and Hauser’s.



Not only has the market accomplished its original goal of bringing local farmers and their produce into communities, it has been the model for other markets to follow. When West Chester opened in 1995, it was the first and only produce-only market in Southeastern Pennsylvania. From its example, markets have spawned into numerous communities throughout the region, each looking to duplicate the success of West Chester. Yet probably the market’s greatest achievement may be in the bond that has grown between the community of West Chester and local farmers. It has shown that consumers and farmers together build a community.