On Tuesdays and Saturdays, the local farmer’s market is held in downtown Harrisonburg. At the weekly event, vendors from around the valley come and sell their products such as produce, pastries,  and other homemade products. With all of the vendors coming and working their booths, many of them all have a different reason on why they started working at the farmer’s market in the first place.

Vendor Ann Borgmann has been working at the farmer’s market for six years and runs her business there, Grist Mill Bakery, every Saturday morning. At Borgmann’s booth, pastries and cookies are sold from her bakery.

“I always knew I wanted to run a small bakery, and the farmer’s market is a friendly place that I can sell pastries without having to have a storefront or a van that I drive around place to place,” Borgmann said.

Borgmann doesn’t mainly sell her products for the benefit of her business, but for the benefit of other people.

“I’m selling things that make you happy when you eat them… Things that are not store made, basically things that really taste good,” Borgmann said. Wednesday is cookie baking day, Thursday and Friday are the pastries; peel the apples, and get ready to make cinnamon rolls. 

From owning her own business to being a vendor at the farmers market, Borgmann follows a specific schedule to help her prepare for Saturday mornings at the market.

“It’s a routine; it’s scheduled. It can take up a quite a bit of time if I’m not prepared or organized….you kind of have to schedule things in order to have things done and right and pack up and get her to the market,” Borgmann said.

According to Borgmann, the best seller for Grist Mill Bakery is their apple strudel for the fall season.

Aside, from pastries, many of the other vendors at the market are selling produce. Vendor Alex Calistoga has been running a booth at the Harrisonburg farmer’s market for 11 years, selling their homegrown produce from their farm.

“We have a farm in Augusta county; we have a 21 acre land and another 18 acre land that we grow watermelons, winter squash, tomatoes and cucumbers,” Calistoga said.

Not only are Calistoga and his mom working weekly at the Harrisonburg market, but they have been working at the markets in Stanton and Nelson as well.

“We go there [farmer’s markets] to sell our products and give people what they want,” Calistoga said.

Located on 228 S Liberty Street, the Harrisonburg farmer’s market is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 8AM-1PM.