Riverhead’s winter farmers market will open Nov. 7 at Hallockville Museum Farm under the leadership of a longtime vendor who has formed a nonprofit dedicated to running it.
The market is independent of East End Food, the organization that previously operated the winter market and moved it to the former Homeside Florist property at Main Road and Route 105.
Rachel Stephens, owner of Sweet Woodland Farm, incorporated Riverhead Farmers Market Inc. this spring. The new nonprofit has partnered with Hallockville to hold the market in its renovated Naugles Barn, with room for about 30 vendors.
The market will operate Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through April 24, except Nov. 28, when Hallockville’s annual Country Parlor holiday sale will occupy the barn. An additional market is planned for Sunday, Dec. 6, Stephens said.
The new organization begins another chapter for a market that has changed locations and operators several times since its beginnings downtown.
The Riverhead Business Improvement District Management Association launched the indoor market in February 2014. Long Island Greenmarket later operated it, and East End Food Institute took over in 2019. In 2021, the institute moved the market from the former Ben Franklin building on East Main Street to the former florist property. See: Riverhead farmers market to reopen Saturday in its new Main Road location (Nov. 23, 2021)
East End Food’s plans for that site extended well beyond Saturday shopping. In 2022, it unveiled a proposed regional food hub with a year-round farmers market, shared commercial kitchen, food processing facilities, cold storage and distribution space.
Construction disrupted the market’s operations. In January 2024, East End Food announced a temporary move to Twin Fork Beer Co. while renovations continued on Main Road.
The food hub reopened its event space this March, with workshops and monthly pop-up markets planned while work continued on the commercial kitchen. East End Food’s website currently describes its market as temporarily closed during construction and still lists a shared kitchen and retail space among its plans.
Stephens’ involvement goes back years. She first visited the downtown market with her children and became a vendor in 2018, she said. By 2019, she was one of its floor managers, alongside Lucy Senesac of Sang Lee Farms and Chris Browder of Browder’s Birds.
A Hampton Bays resident, Stephens grows elderberries and medicinal herbs for her farm’s wellness products.
She said she explored downtown locations over the summer and approached the Riverhead BID about helping with the market. The connection to Hallockville came through Sarah Phillips, a museum board member with whom Stephens works.
Stephens sees a natural connection between a museum preserving the North Fork’s farming history and a market supporting farmers working today.
“Hallockville is an active part of our region’s agricultural story, and hosting the Winter Farmers Market is a wonderful way to bring that story to life,” Hallockville Museum Farm Executive Director Marianne Della Croce said in a press release last week. “We are excited to work with the Riverhead Farmers Market to create a welcoming place where the community can shop locally, support our regional food producers, and stay connected to agriculture throughout the winter.”
Demand from vendors has exceeded the barn’s capacity. Stephens said she received about 80 applications, filled the roughly 30 indoor spaces and has a waiting list. Additional vendors may set up outside when the weather allows.
“I only wish it were a little bigger,” she said.
The market is operating on vendor fees of $35 per week, Stephens said, a rate intended to keep participation affordable.
For the winter ahead, the renovated barn offers some practical comforts that vendors have not always enjoyed in the market’s previous homes.
“It’s heated. It’s got bathrooms. There’s a little kitchen,” Stephens said. Those were amenities the downtown venues, which were all long-vacant storefronts, did not have.
Stephens said she is delighted with the space and the location. The newly renovated Naugles Barn is “really gorgeous,” she said.
Hallockville Museum Farm is at 6038 Sound Avenue in Riverhead.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
