© 2024 Aspen Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Peaches and more at Palisade Farmers Market

The 54th annual Palisade Peach Festival took place August 11-14, 2022
Archive Photo
/
KDNK
The Palisade Sunday Farmers Market has been named by USA Today as the seventh-best farmers market in the country.

Seraphina Hunter, Market Director, says the town of Palisade decided several years ago to run the market on Sundays to avoid competing with other regional markets.

The market located at Main Street and 3rd in downtown Palisade provides easy walking to numerous vendors and local shops. The popular market draws anywhere from fifteen hundred to four thousand visitors on any given Sunday.

Fresh produce at Farmers Market changes on a weekly basis, and it’s no different at the Palisade Market. The hot ticket item right now is locally grown Palisade Peaches.

Cheryl Young runs the Bella Bolettino Organic Farm Stand. Fruit from the six acre farm just east of Palisade is USDA Certified Organic. Young says most peach growers start the season marketing Freestones and Redhaven peaches.

Moving from sweet to savory, we visit two vendors who’s fresh produce is off the charts. Drew Harding and Dawn Adams each run their perspective stands on opposite sides of the street.

This Sunday, eager shoppers lined up at both stands asking questions, looking for the best produce and making happy purchases.

Drew Harding owns and operates Harding Homegrown a regenerative farm in Palisade. Standing across the street is Dawn Adams at Grand Junction Farmstead stand. She and her husband Brian own a very productive acre and a half regenerative farm. Adams says through the local market and CSA’s their farm feeds 600 to 700 persons per week.

It’s not just locals who appreciate the Palisade Market, Adam was traveling through the area and decided to go shopping.

Long time Palisade farmer Richard Skaer operates Z's Orchards. Skaer is one of the original founders of the Palisade Market and began growing and promoting the now famous Palisade Peaches in 1973.

The popular market, now in its 19th year, has won nation, state and local awards. The market will continue every Sunday until early October.
Copyright 2024 KVNF - Mountain Grown Community Radio

Lisa Young is a multimedia journalist living on the Western Slope of Colorado. She currently works as a freelance reporter for KVNF "Mountain Grown Community Radio" in Paonia, Colorado.