Clark Park Farmers’ Market

I love this farmer’s market so much! I go for the Amish apples, which are some of the BEST I’ve ever had. Once you try them, you won’t want anything else! Other things to buy here: duck eggs, smoked ham hocks, bean soup mix, lemon bars — these are my favorites! I really enjoy being able to visit this market all year round — even if it’s not a full market, it’s great to still buy local. I will keep coming back here as long as I live in west philly :)

Love this place! The vegetables and tomatoes are incredibly sweet. The vendors are honest and proud of their product.

I love and support farmers markets and Clark Park’s is the best I’ve found in Philly. The one caviat is that it can be pricey. Why is that? When we buy directly from local farmers, we aren’t paying to have things shipped from California and there’s no middle man making a profit. So why is organic produce so much cheaper at the co-​op up the street? Farmers, please weigh in here. I love and support farmers markets and Clark Park’s is the best I’ve found in Philly.

This is a nice farmer’s market, but the selections are generally kind of limited to standard produce. The prices are cheaper than other farmer’s markets in the area though, which is nice. They also take food stamps which helps to promote healthy eating in lower income households. The nice thing is that the Saturday markets (10 – 2) are year round and the Thursday ones (3 – 7) last for a long time. The best buy here in my opinion is the apple cider. The flowers are also beautiful. If you are looking for fresh fruits and vegetables, this is a great place to get them and support local farming.

Southwest Philly
When it is warm out you will find a cool setup of vendors at Clark Park located right next to the old Philadelphia College of Pharmacy/​USP. It is fun to browse on weekends. Maybe Saturdays I think they are there. Be sure to come support the local businesses!

Clark Park farmer’s Market is on the small side, but they have some very good stuff.
All the vendors are super nice. I have to admit, I love the cultural feel of chatting with the Amish. Not really sure why. Maybe it’s just that I enjoy looking different, but acting alike.
I usually get some kind of baked goods. I really like cookies and these moon pies, soooo good, from one of the stands.
They have some good looking vegetables, but I usually leave that to be bought at a less pricely supermarket.

Excellent selection of fresh vegetables, with a fine bread stand on Saturdays and a couple of good food trucks on Thursdays. We love the Mushroom Man, Margerum’s, and the bakery best of all.

Every weekend, a variety of farmers, vendors, and locals converge on the 43^rd side of Clark Park for what I believe to be one of the city’s better Farmer’s Markets. Even better, this market is year round! In the summer months, the market is at its best, with stands selling everything from Mushrooms (flavorful crimini, and jumbo portobello), fresh cut flowers (big, colorful blooms of hydrangeas, sunflowers and snapdragons make a very nice bouquet), fresh herbs in pots for growing (fresh basil grown in the sun on my own balcony is far better than anything I’ve had anywhere else, hands down), chocolates (hand made with elaborate decorations and fancy flavors), and then there’s the produce. Long tables with pints upon pints of fresh blueberries, strawberries, cherries, string beans, cucumbers, squash, juicy beefsteak tomatoes, apricots, and peaches. During the winter, these are replaced with every type of apple imaginable, ciders, kale and preserves of every summer crop you could think of.
Year round there is also bread (Slow Rise Bakery makes an amazing baguette loaf which is essential french bread in loaf form), pastries, the famous Amish Whoopie pies (sweetened whipped cream between two crisp oatmeal or pumpkin cookies!), homemade fruit pies, and organic pork cuts, cheese, goat milk, grass-​fed beef cuts, eggs and homemade yogurt.
Every Saturday, I am one of those converging locals. This market has something for every palette. More importantly, the produce is fresh and organic, and far tastier than anything you’d ever find at a grocery store. If you like to cook fresh and in season like I do, then the Farmer’s Market at Clark Park is worth every single trip. Definitely a five stars!

The magnificent farmer’s market at Clark Park is almost in full swing again this April. The Swiss chard, root veggies, lettuces, and mushrooms are the crème of the crop. The Amish stand at the corner of 43^rd and Baltimore keep me full of breads, pies, and the most wonderful whoppie pies (especially the two oatmeal cookie kind). And how about the remora known as food trucks and carts that gather round (not to mention the occasional Uhuru flea market)? Don’t they just add to the fantastic presence?
Soon it will be time for crates and crates of fresh tomatoes, peaches and apples. How I long for thee, oh heart of the growing season.

Clark Park Farmers Market has a good mix of vendors. Some seem overpriced & some are very reasonable. The Amish vendors are often selling pretty good stuff.
I like the Thursday market over the Saturday one — it doesn’t seem as crowded. I got the freshest beets (with greens attached!) here once on a Thursday night.

It’s been almost two years since my last review so I feel inclined to update it and reiterate how much I enjoy this market. The Thursday market still has it’s Amish smoked chicken and ribs (the smell alone entices you to buy) as well lots of fun energy from the Rebel Gardeners (young peeps, I think mostly high schoolers who tend to a chemical-​free garden right here in Philly). This Thursday market is open till Thanksgiving and I find that I can get my fruits and veggies a little cheaper here on Thursdays.
What I think has really evolved over my years of coming here is the Saturday Market at Clark Park. There is still plenty of seasonal fresh fruits and veggies available with a beautiful array of flowers like zinnias and sunflowers. You can also purchase more interesting meat items like bison and ox tail which is super fun. In addition, there has been a lot of fun prepared foods from vendors who use local ingredients. The sandwiches at yumtown food truck are a decadently wonderful way to kick start you Saturday (think pulled pork, meatloaf sandwiches, etc). And we are always excited when Lil’ pop shop comes around with flavors like Cherry Lambic.
The Clark Park atmosphere, above all, is unbeatable. Relaxed, carefree, filled with people who care to support their local farms and are invested in purchasing local mostly chemical-​free fruits and veggies.
Don’t forget– for those with Access Cards, the market welcomes you!

We stopped by there Saturday morning. Not many vendors yet but you can get a large variety of food already. I saw lovely green onions, asparagus, radish, mushrooms, and a LOT of herbs. It’s definitely a good place to check out if you are looking to grow your own herb garden. They also have some bakery goods there.
I am looking forwards to going back there as spring/​summer vegetables are in season.

We live near the Italian Market, but decided to venture out to University City, go for a walk with the dog, and check out a new market. This is a great area to walk around in, the people are much friendlier, and the Italians were replaced by the Amish!
I thought that the variety of food was a little lacking, the prices were much higher than I’m used to, and there weren’t many options for prepared food. I tried the Amish jar of green bean salad, which is very good, but I’m not sure about $ 3.50 for a pint. They still never fail to impress with Whoopie Pies. The meat and dairy products offered at the other stands were outrageously priced, but I did decide to go with some buffalo pickled eggs from a very nice guy down at the end. They’re very interesting and have a nice subtle taste. I would definitely recommend these.
The dog bowl portion of the park was a disappointment, because there was mass hysteria with kids and soccer practice, so the dogs were not allowed down there to play. All-​in-​all, it’s a fun early afternoon place to walk around, but not a destination spot that I would frequent on a weekly basis.

A Saturday morning spent at the Clark Park Farmers Market always feels wonderful. I’m getting out of bed before noon, getting exercise and fresh air, hanging out with people, and purchasing healthy food while supporting local businesses! Need I say more? A wider selection of products to choose from might be nice… but I’m still not complaining. See ya there soon!

I want to like this place, but the prices here are way too high. I cannot in good faith give this place more than two stars because it would cause me to incur a major cost-​of-​living increase if I made this place my primary food source.
I grew up in Lancaster, PA, and we regularly shop at the central market there, where the prices are significantly lower than a typical supermarket, and the produce is significantly fresher. I also have lived in Newark, Delaware, where there is a market that’s not exactly farmer-​direct, but has outstanding selection and prices. In Cleveland, Ohio, I also regularly shopped at a large market that had very reasonable prices. I know what things cost.
This place gets the fresher thing down, but the selection is really not great, and prices are much more expensive than items of comparable quality at the supermarket. It’s even more expensive than overpriced places like whole foods.
The only places I’ve seen higher-​priced Farmer’s markets have been in wealthier parts of New England where the cost-​of-​living is higher.
Nice idea, but poorly executed. Sorry, but not all west Philly residents are ultra-​rich. If you want to actually serve the community, you need to make at least some options that are affordable to people of average income and wealth.
My recommendations? I think the best value for produce in this neighborhood can be found in the African markets; the selection is heavy on root vegetables, but what they carry is priced fairly and tends to be pretty fresh. For anything else, you really need to travel further. I recommend the reading terminal market.

The Saturday morning and Wednesday afternoon farmers’ market in Cark Park is somewhat of a West Philly ritual for some. Unfortunately for me, I’m not all that impressed. It doesn’t help that the park has been fenced off lately.
As a genuine upstate New Yorker, I’ve been to Amish farmer’s markets. The accents are real, but the prices are too high and selection too sparse. Sweet potatoes were the most obscure produce and a gallon of cider cost upwards of $ 6. However! If I could rate people watching or diversity… the Clark Park Farmers’ Market might gain a few stars! Bring your baby strollers, bring your dogs, do your thing!

Came here today and although the produce seemed fresher than at Reading or Rittenhouse on a typical weekend, the prices were higher, not only for the organic stuff, I feel like. The mushrooms (portabello, white, shiitake) were all amazing at the Amish market and there were tons of apples. The organic stand had an amazing assortment of greens but way overpriced. I got some spaghetti squash and broccoli, which were great. Paid $ 3 for ½ lb of arugula and the same for spinach that was really fresh and beautifully green!

I do almost all of my grocery shopping here. I literally do not miss a Saturday. If I did, I would be hungry.
One of the main reasons I truly deeply love the farmers’ market: THEY ACCEPT FOOD STAMPS. Everyone can shop there.
It is affordable, friendly if you need that, has a lot of variety, and is in a beautiful location. Just shopping there improves your appetite by calming you and making you feel like your life has more order than structure than it actually does. They even have beautiful flowers, sometimes t-​shirts, and pottery.
People are saying it’s small? If it were bigger, wouldn’t the tables still have pretty much the same things? I always have a choice of at least 3 tables for where to buy kale, lettuce, zucchini, onions, potatoes, tomatoes. Whatever’s in season, most people have it. There is only one table with beans that I know of. I call her the Bean And Spice lady, but she also has other things. I usually get sweet potatoes from her and she has a great hydroponic lettuce.
You can have breakfast right there. Slow Rise Bakery has a wonderful sourdough banana bread, and I find a half-​loaf makes a great breakfast while you’re shopping. There is fruit to snack on (once you buy it, of course). Green Line Café sets up a table with iced coffee, making the experience complete.
My typical shopping list (varies by season): chickpeas, beans, kale, broccoli, squash, zucchini, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, blueberries, strawberries, sweet cherries, peaches, apricots, okra, asparagus, jelly or jam, bread.
The only thing I still need is grains. I buy my grains at a mini-​market or on the occasional trip to Trader Joe’s because as far as I know the market doesn’t have any. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
I have been shopping at this market every Saturday for over a year, year-​round. I didn’t know you could feed yourself at a farmers’ market year round, but I learned because I kept going and every week, they kept having food. I must have eaten twenty different kinds of root vegetables I had never heard of over the winter. They were even there in one of the major blizzards!
I blog about food, and the Clark Park Market is a fixture of my blog.

Minus one star for being so very small.
Plus four stars for being practically perfect in every other day. If you are lucky, you may even get to have a delicious breakfast taco from the taco truck that frequents the market. If you are lucky.

I can’t help but salivate with anticipation every time I come across here. After all not only does it offer anything that I’ve ever wanted in a Farmer’s Market, it offers it 4 blocks away from my house.
Coming across that market is easily one of the best treats that West Philly has to offer. you can sink your teeth into fresh apples, pick up the best vegetables possible, or relax in the park with a fresh cup of hot apple cider. I also have to give it up for the baked goods. I’ve picked up one of the best scones that I have ever had right here.
Right now you’ll only come across the Market from 10am-​2pm since It’s going through the winter hours. But since Spring is almost in the air be prepared to see it start showing up a lot more frequently!