Farmers markets reopen for season with sourdough, birria trending

The Lakes Park Farmers Market in south Fort Myers reopened Oct. 1, kicking off a new season for dozens of Southwest Florida markets and hundreds of vendors gearing up after last year’s hurricane-hit slowdown. 

Vendors drove to Lakes Park from as far as Naples and Arcadia, arriving in the cool early morning hours. What began as a sparse crowd grew as temperatures climbed into the high 80s, with the tented shops offering shaded relief and the feel of a hopeful bazaar. 

At Irene’s Produce, a woman examined a box of jumbo carrots, picking one for chicken soup. An infant child ate a sample of Dynasty Guacamole’s signature paella, held out on a small plastic spoon. People sipped agua frescas from Gina’s Tamales & Oaxacan Cuisine.    

“It’s all about the community,” said Market Manager Jean Baer, co-owner of Local Roots LLC.   

Baer and business partner Betsy Ventura run Local Roots, a group of nine weekly markets with nearly 200 vendors in Lee County. They started on Sanibel Island in 2008 and grew to include locations at Lakes Park, Captiva Island, Boca Grande, Coconut Point, Bonita Springs, Babcock Ranch and Gateway. Most start in October and November and close in April or May.   

There are many other markets across the region. Linda Miller runs Shop Local Productions, a group of five markets in Lee and Collier counties. The markets open starting this month and run as late as April 30, including three on Fort Myers Beach, Surfside Farmers Market in Cape Coral and South Collier Market at Florida SouthWestern State College in East Naples.   

Miller and her husband began Shop Local in 2014. On Oct. 3, they returned to Fort Myers Beach’s Times Square for the first time since the 2023-24 season. Last year’s hurricanes forced them to close that spot.   

“We’re really excited about this year because we get to go back to Times Square,” Miller said, adding that Fort Myers Beach’s Santini Plaza Market came back last year for the first time since Hurricane Ian in 2022.  

Miller, Baer and Ventura all said they expect sourdough-related products, including breads, cookies, cinnamon rolls, pizza dough and other items to be popular this year.   

For vendors, the markets offer a relatively low-cost way to test products, selling cottage foods without investing in state permits or brick-and-mortar storefronts, according to the Florida Farmers’ Market Association.   

“There are a lot of emerging entrepreneurs, people who decided to work for themselves,” Baer said.  

In addition to one-time application fees, vendors pay about $40 to $100 per space per weekly market, depending on the market and type of vendor. The gatherings include marketing and networking opportunities. But they are also labor-intensive events subject to weather, with limited hours.   

Irene Lam of Irene’s Produce in Arcadia said she starts her morning at 2 a.m. to make it to the Lakes Park market where the gates officially open to vendors at 6:30 a.m. Her homegrown lettuces and tomatoes are best sellers.   

For family-owned Gina’s Tamales, the Oaxacan specialty birria became increasingly ordered at Lakes Park and other markets over the last few years after the dish was featured in TikTok videos, co-owner Cesar Ortiz said. They make their version with chuck roast, featuring it in stews, tacos and other dishes.   

“The amount of birria we had to start producing was crazy — two to three times as much,” Ortiz said.   

The Arcadia cow-calf and chicken operation Fifty Ten Farms is returning to the year-round Downtown Punta Gorda Farmers Market and Local Roots’ Coconut Point Market in Estero this year. Soon, workers at the farm will be busy cutting winter hay for foraging cows, said co-owner Spencer Weisbrodt.   

While most Florida cow-calf operations ship cows out of state for butchering, nearly all of Fifty Ten Farms’ cows are raised and butchered on-site. Their free-range broiler chickens and eggs also are popular.   

“We try to keep everything as clean and natural as possible, whatever God intended it to be,” Weisbrodt said.   

The farm strives to use the entire animal, which includes the production of artisan skin care products. This year they are debuting a new tallow-based soap.   

Find Local Farmers Markets  

• Visit Local Roots for details on nine weekly markets at Lakes Park in Fort Myers, Gateway in Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva islands, Babcock Ranch, Boca Grande, Estero and Bonita Springs.   

• Visit Shop Local Productions to find details on five weekly markets, three on Fort Myers Beach, one in Cape Coral and another in Naples.  

• For information on the Alliance for the Arts Night Market in Fort Myers, click here. 

• In Alva, Rooster’s on Route 80 is set to open Oct. 3. 

• Find details on the Downtown Punta Gorda Farmers Market and others in Florida, along with resources for vendors, on the Florida Farmers’ Market Association website. 

• The year-round Vanderbilt Farmers Market in North Naples is set to show off its seasonal flair on Saturdays starting Oct. 4. 

• The Third Street South Farmer’s Market in Naples ramps up in mid-November.