I’m a fan of local shopping. Where I live, there’s plenty of opportunities to local-shop. The Collingswood Farmers Market, for example, happens every Saturday morning from May through November, a couple hundred feet from my apartment, in the commuter train parking lot. There you can buy fresh fruits and veggies from Jersey farmers, homemade honey, truly free-range eggs, just squeezed peach nectar, flowers, croissants …. The people-watching is fantastic, the dog-watching even better!
Here in Collingswood, Second Saturday is basically a monthly town-wide sidewalk sale. Shop owners open their doors, musicians play instruments, photographers sell photographs, beaders sell jewelry, massage therapists offer chair massages. Best of all, strangers say “hi” to you and smile.
April’s Second Saturday was a few weeks ago. Matt and I strolled up the street to introduce ourselves to a friend’s sister, Rin, who sells absolutely beautiful crocheted items. Afterward I bought a kiln-fired glass pendant from the wonderful artist Katherine Cheetham.
Then Matt and I hung out in Cheese Etc and Gourmet Gifts, the shop directly below our apartment. We tasted cheeses, met a few other Collingswood residents, and learned about the recent gift basket Cheese Etc made for Carrie Underwood when she performed a show in Trenton. As we were chatting, a photographer wandered in. He took some shots for South Jersey magazine‘s upcoming feature on the area’s best towns. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Collingswood will be included.
Is your town known for any events? What kind of shopping can’t you resist?
~Alicia Bessette
P.S. One of Cheese Etc’s most delicious specialty cheeses is called Drunken Goat. It’s a hard goat cheese that has been soaked in red wine for several months. I love to shop for Drunken Goat!
We have some good water buffalo cheese made locally, which I’m sure Alicia and Matt remember. We also have a number of markets that sell staples such as rice, beans, yuca (manioc), pasta, onions, etc. as well as bananas, plantains, papaya and seasonal tropical fruits.
I remember the water buffalo cheese, Scott. Very good! So is drunken goat cheese. Collingswood represent!
In Hawaii there’s a pizza joint called, “Who Cut the Cheese.”
Anyone want to play the story game? Here’s the first sentence:
As he sat in the cave eating his goat cheese, he looked out at raindrops, as beautiful as pearls, dropping through the sunlight.
I live in a town where I can go for days without getting in the car. From my house I can walk to a great natural food store, movies, the bank, Wesleyan University (lots of good music and visiting artists), a greengrocer. Too much to list. I love Middletown.
It’s all about the food for me too. Whenever we travel, we never buy anything except local foods and treats to take home and consume! It fills the need to buy something and yet you don’t end up with a bunch of STUFF!
I love food and I love buying from local farmers. Where I live you don’t find these things too often. But good for you, it must feel great to live in a town that is considered one of the best
This may be one of the best post titles in the history of the Ball.
Fresh fruit and flowers are basically at your doorstep. Nice!
Sounds so lovely, Alicia. And now I’m craving drunken goat cheese. I adore goat cheese (once I had a salad with fried goat cheese and it was incredible!)
Greg, love the opening line! But I’m awful at doing these on the fly. Where’s Scott?
This post made me miss all of the nice things that come with living in a small town. In NYC, there are tons of flea markets, farmer’s markets, antique shops and even cheese shops, but they all seem to lack that toasty, quaint, familiar feeling that small towns seem to embody. And now I’m on a quest to find the drunken goat near my home. That sounds delicious!
Thank you for making me wish desperately I lived in a town where it’s not snowing (yes, it’s SNOWING today). We have lovely farmers markets here in the summertime, but summertime doesn’t really get started until June in Oregon’s mountainous high desert. I do love all the fresh cheeses and treats when we DO finally get market season started.
Great blog post! I’m going to go hunt for good cheese now!
Tawna
Thanks to you all for checking in today! Here’s to local shopping … and cheese, glorious cheese.
Sorry, Greg, have been busy with work today – how un-tropical! I’ll be ready next week though. We need more folks to join in.
No problem Scott. Since you were “out,” I checked out your website and I was inspired to go to your neighborhood.
Yes, more people would be fun.
Okay, catch you next week.
Thanks Alicia!
So many NJ towns are gorgeous. I don’t know why Jersey gets a bad rap!
If you are ever in DC a cheese shop called Cowgirl Creamery (Love the name!)sells Drunken Goat cheese. Plus many other too!
Thnaks for the shout out! We’ll be there again soon 🙂