Summit County's nine farmers markets are a trove of fun finds, foods
Some activities are synonymous with summer: drive-in movies, swimming and, of course, farmers markets.
No other shopping experience quite lives up to the satisfaction of purchasing locally grown goodies on a warm sunny day. Plus, with inflation and other factors causing a rise in grocery prices, buying food and products from local vendors may help keep more money in your pockets.
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Summit County has nine farmers markets scattered throughout its various communities. Despite the name, farmers are not the only vendors visiting these events. At each market are local businesses selling everything from household plants to kitchen utensils to prepared foods.
With so many farmers markets and vendors, finding hidden gems can be tough, so the Beacon Journal scoured each market to identify two interesting products (one food item and another non-food item) to keep your eye out for this season.
Hudson Farmers Market
When and where: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Saturday through Oct. 8 in downtown Hudson. Parking available along North Main Street and in residential neighborhoods east of the market.
Not sure what to make with the goodies available at the Hudson farmers market? Here are some recipes.
Find: Timber Jaxxx Wood Products
Eric Maiden’s family has always had a passion for cooking. So, when he was laid off and faced with an abundance of free time during the pandemic, Maiden decided to support that passion by creating wooden cooking utensils.
Over the last two years, he has expanded beyond simple spoons and ladles to making square handle boards, pizza peels and even a wood-based board filled with coffee beans and resin. All of Timber Jaxxx’s products are made by hand from domestic hard woods in the basement of Maiden’s Cuyahoga Falls home.
Maiden attends the Hudson farmers market once a month but can also be found at other nearby markets, like Countryside and Haymaker.
Food: Neo Pops
These gourmet popsicles are the perfect treat to cool down on a hot summer day. That explains why co-owners Jessica and Tony Setinsek set up shop each week at both the Hudson and Countryside farmers markets. Neo Pops’ popsicle flavors are split into two categories, fresh fruit and dessert, none of which are made with simple syrups or other additives.
The Setinsek’s popsicle business began in the kitchen of their Columbiana home, where the pair made their first batch of fresh fruit popsicles. Now they are working out of the Youngstown Business Incubator and their most successful flavor is strawberry banana. Jessica’s favorite is the chocolate peanut butter pop, which she says tastes just like a Reese’s cup.
Summit Lake Farmers Market (Akron)
When and where: 4-7 p.m. every Tuesday through Sept. 27 behind Summit Lake Community Center, 380 W. Crosier St., Akron.
Find: My Beehive ApotheCare & More
In addition to being a full-time birthing doula, owner Tiffany Becton regularly brings her spiritual and metaphysical store to customers at the Summit Lake farmers market. Becton’s table reflects both of her passions, with fragrances, hair oils and crystals displayed alongside teas for those trying to conceive or relieve cramps.
Food: Living City Farms
Living City Farms is a small no-till farm that uses agro-ecological and permaculture-inspired practices to grow its vegetables. The most popular of these is kale, which is used in Ms. Julie’s Kitchen in Firestone Park for their kale chips. Farm manager Steve Larson plans to expand their offerings to include popcorn and a variety of native foods.
“We’re so thrilled to start growing more crops that have a beautiful history to share,” said Em Evans, Living City Farms’ social media coordinator. “So, we’re growing heirlooms, we’re growing indigenous varieties...to teach about the original inhabitants of the land that we’re on. We hope to connect people to nature through food.”
The business has farms in both Summit Lake and Tallmadge and will be at the Summit Lake and Tallmadge farmers markets throughout the summer.
Barberton Farmers Market
When and where: 2-7 p.m. every Tuesday through Nov. 1 in downtown Barberton.
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Find: Poe Soapworks
New Franklin resident Michelle Toris has always been a crafter, but she only discovered her true passion eight years ago after creating a bar of soap. Following that first batch, she started experimenting with fragrances and recipes – and the rest is history.
Toris’ personal favorites are still her more decorative soaps, some of which feature a cat or birthday candles incorporated into their layers. She also sells salt bar soaps for exfoliation and a soap infused with jewelweed, a natural remedy for poison ivy. Customers may also notice certain soaps have a caricature of Toris’s grandmother, Iona Poe, who inspired her Poe Soapwork’s name.
Poe Soapworks is available at the Barberton farmers market and Erin's Studio of Hair & Nail Design.
Food: My Garden Rules
Lara Schmidt has always loved plants — even before she became a chemist, teacher or began her current job as a test grader.
Schmidt sells the herbs and flowers grown at her home in Doylestown nearly every week that the Barberton Farmers Market is open. She also gives free advice, often warning customers about the aggressiveness of mint or the difference between spearmint and orange mint.
My Garden Rules’ bestselling item is basil, which Schmidt attributes to its expensiveness in most grocery stores. Some customers always get their favorite herb, but others take an economical approach and only buy herbs that cost the same (or significantly more) in stores.
Cuyahoga Falls Farmers Market
When and where: 4-7 p.m. every Friday through Sept. 30 at the High Bridge Glens Park, 1817 Front St.
Find: Rooted Intentions
Rooted Intentions is a LGBTQIA women-owned business that sells handmade and curated Reiki-infused products, alongside macrame plant hangers, earrings, car charms, necklaces and more. Co-owners Ashley McGuinness and Abby Trout met through their work as mental health therapists and created the business to assist with the overall health and wellbeing of others.
This shop also offers a variety of houseplants made through propagation, a process by which new plants grow from the cuttings of a parent plant. The pair will offer free chakra testing at the market with specially chosen crystal recommendations.
The duo will attend the Cuyahoga Falls farmers market frequently and hope to be at the Hartville Flea Market throughout the summer.
Food: May’s Produce
Based in Randolph Township, May’s Produce is a family-owned farm that produces fruits and vegetables like cantaloupe, watermelon, peppers, soybeans, sugar snap peas and 12 varieties of sweet corn.
The farm itself belongs to Mike May, but running it is a family affair that occasionally takes all three generations of Mays to do.
Kettle corn will be the newest item offered at May’s Produce stands this year, and all the kernels used to make it will have come from May’s 80-acre farm. The business’s bestselling item at markets is its sweet corn.
May’s Produce will be at the Cuyahoga Falls, Barberton and Stow farmers markets in addition to many other markets throughout Northeast Ohio.
Healthy Asian Pacific Islanders (HAPI) Fresh Farmers Market (Akron)
When and where: 4-7 p.m. every Wednesday July 6 through Sept. 28 at the Akron Cooperative Farms, 381 Ontario St. Additional Saturday hours 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Aug. 20 and Sept. 10
Find: International Community Health Center
The International Community Health Center (ICHC) booth at HAPI Fresh market provides public health information, support and resources for community members each week.
ICHC’s parent organization, Asian Services in Action (ASIA), is the largest health and human services agency serving the Asian American/Pacific Islander community of Northeast Ohio. The health center’s goal is to deliver comprehensive, culturally and linguistically appropriate health care (including substance abuse and mental health services) on a sliding scale to those who face economic or language barriers to care.
The organization’s outreach team has been working on COVID-19 outreach and will have coloring pages and board games at the market to educate children and the wider community on the vaccine. ICHC is also addressing the HIV epidemic, so marketgoers may see them distributing HIV testing kits as well.
Food: Pumpkin shoots from Der Vue
Der Vue’s pumpkin shoots are by far the most popular item at HAPI Fresh Farmers Market. While this summer is only her second year at the market, she will likely sell out within the first two hours of the weekly event.
Vue, 63, is a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic and was selling her produce door to door before she met Malissa Xiong, a program specialist at Asian Services in Action Inc. Vue is working with Xiong to expand her business, which doesn’t have an official name yet. Xiong hopes that Vue will join other markets in the future, but for now they are working on how to track inventory and use that data to predict next year’s seeding needs.
Her pumpkin shoots come from green pumpkins and taste relatively sweet compared to the bitter vines of their orange cousins. The highly sought-after shoots are used in various Hmong, Lao, Nepali, Karen, Burmese, Mon, Cambodian, Chinese, Congolese and Afghan recipes. The multicultural demand, mixed with Vue’s comparatively low prices, have fueled her booth’s popularity.
She also sells other produce, like Asian cucumbers and chayote, along with waterproof aprons, bookbags, tote bags, pencil pouches and fanny packs.
Vue was born and raised in Laos, a country in southeast Asia, when it became the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. In what is now called The Secret War in Laos, the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on the Asian country during 580,000 bombing missions — equal to a planeload of bombs every eight minutes, 24-hours a day, for nine years.
After migrating and living in a refugee camp in Thailand, Vue and her family moved to the United States on Thanksgiving Day in 1979. She was 18 years old at the time. Over 40 years later, Vue provides fresh produce not only to the community, but also her four children and 10 grandchildren, many of which live out of state.
Countryside Farmers Market (Peninsula)
When and where: 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday through Oct. 29 at Howe Meadow, 4040 Riverview Road.
Find: E. E. Taschen
Every couple of weeks, Emily Brazier makes the journey from her home in Medina to the farmers market with a clear goal: Save the world through one stylish bag at a time. E. E. Taschen’s reusable bags are 100% cotton – except for the snack bags, which have a food-safe lining in them – for easy washing and come in various sizes. She also sells wax wraps for preserving foods.
The series of events leading up to the opening of her business are nothing short of a perfect storm. First came Brazier’s grandmother, who taught her how to sew. Then came a sewing machine from her parents and, shortly after, the pandemic, which gave Brazier ample time to perfect her new trade.
The sheer number of patterns Brazier has amassed since she began making bags means she has a one for almost any interest, from Marvel superheroes to The Beatles to sloths.
Food: Black Sheep Baking Co.
Lots of butter and love — what could be better in baked goods?
“We're very much southern homestyle baking and I pack a lot of love into my food,” said Lauren Shaffer, owner of Black Sheep Bakery Co. “I'm super passionate about it and I'm really passionate about butter. There's lots and lots of butter and lots of love.”
Every week Shaffer sells her baked goods at the market, things like whiskey caramel brownies, chocolate crinkle cookies and cinnamon rolls. Shaffer plans to open a brick-and-mortar location in Cuyahoga Falls within the next two years.
Stow Farmers Market
When and where: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Saturday through Oct. 8 at the Community Church of Stow, 1567 Pilgrim Drive.
Find: The Clay Engineer
Stow resident Tom Manuszak has been making pottery by hand for four years. At first, The Clay Engineer was a way for Tom to destress from his career as a professional engineer.
“It’s a very stressful job,” he said. “[Creating pottery] is my therapy so to speak because you almost can't do it if you're not relaxed.”
As Tom’s pottery skills developed, his finished pieces found their way into every nook and cranny of the house. His wife encouraged him to find the pottery new homes, so Tom started selling it at farmers markets.
Next summer, he plans to make ceramics his full-time gig. Until then, Tom will continue making and selling mugs, tea sets, dipping dishes and artist dishes at the Stow and Tallmadge farmers markets.
Food: Jay’s Jerkies
Innovation often comes from necessity, and in the case of Jason Edwards, he needed beef jerky that wasn’t going to cost him an arm and leg. So, he started to experiment with some recipes in the kitchen of his Cuyahoga Falls home. In 2016 he brought some of his jerky to a Super Bowl party and, at the encouragement from partygoers, created Jay’s Jerkies.
Edwards started out with original and jalapeño flavors, but now he also offers teriyaki, habanero (his personal favorite), barbeque, XXX and reaper. None of the jerky, whether it’s made of beef or turkey, have nitrates or preservatives. Edwards tries to keep his products as low sodium and low sugar as possible.
“My recipes are all very unique. I've come up with them, strangely, just in my head,” he said. “The main thing you'll notice is I leave a touch of moisture in it so it's a little more tender. One of my regular customers is 72 years old and he's got dentures. He hasn't eaten jerky in 20 years and he loves mine because he can chew it.
Jay’s Jerkies will be at the Stow and Tallmadge farmers markets every week.
Tallmadge Farmers Market
When and where: 4-7 p.m. every Thursday through Oct. 13 at the Tallmadge Recreation Center, 46 N. Munroe Road.
Find: Pam’s Pours
One booth at this market stands out from the rest, mostly because a rainbow lives inside it. Manning the stand is Pam Nicodemus, a retiree that enjoys splashes of color – a fact her art pieces and business, Pam’s Pours, illustrate perfectly.
At first Nicodemus was only acrylic pour painting drink coasters, but then she began cutting out increasingly elaborate pieces of wood to paint. Now she sells the coasters, guitars, cat signs, jewelry, magnets and a whole host of other multicolored items.
“Seeing [these] take shape, I just love it,” Nicodemus said. “I don't care what I'm making, the painting part I think I like the best.”
Each piece is made within the basement studio of Nicodemus’s nearly 100-year-old house in Firestone Park. Pam’s Pours has art for sale each week at the Tallmadge farmers market and year-round at Lele's Leaf and Vine in Cuyahoga Falls and The Griffin in Stow.
Food: Nature’s Garden Produce
Akron native Bill Kellough has been running his hydroponic farm for more than 20 years. His wife, Julie, runs their stand at the Tallmadge and Stow farmers markets each week.
All of the Kelloughs’ many types of produce — lettuce, parsley, basil, cilantro, Swiss chard, kale, spinach and arugula – comes from their 22,000-foot greenhouse in Brimfield. Even though Julie has only attended the Stow market for one year, people have already started calling her “the lettuce lady.”
Southgate Farm's Little Farm Shop (Green)
When and where: 9 a.m. to dusk Wednesday through Saturday through late October or early November at Southgate Trailhead, 6521 Mount Pleasant St. NW, Green.
Find: CAALM Pastures
Ashley and Matt White didn’t set out to be farmers or the founders of CAALM Pastures when they followed their dream and moved from suburbia to a farmhouse on 26 acres in Carrollton a few years ago.
In fact, Ashley is a stay-at-home mom who homeschools their three children while Matt works full time as a firefighter and paramedic. But that fact hasn’t hindered them from raising and selling beef, chicken, pork, eggs and flowers at Southgate Farm’s Little Farm Shop this summer.
Food: Mud Run Farm
Initially, Alex Dragovich created Mud Run Farm to help put food on the table, but over the last 40 years it has transformed into a certified organic, diverse vegetable and small grain business. Alex and his daughter, Alexis, run the Stark County farm and its grain mill, which allows them to transform organically grown corn, wheat and oats into items like flour, oatmeal and grits for sale. Mud Run Farm’s mixes for corn bread, apple crisp and pancakes are also available at Southgate Farms.
Contact Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans at tbeans@gannett.com and on Twitter @TawneyBeans.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 18 Fun finds and foods at Summit County famers markets
