Schenectady Greenmarket

We go to this market almost every Sunday and get much of our grocery shopping done there. There is a good selection of fresh veg even thru the winter, eggs, milk, meat, mushrooms, a fantastic selection of baked goods and prepared foods. Always a fun thing to do on a Sunday.

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I have been going to this market for about 3 yrs. I love the variety of vendors, as well as how much pleasure they take in explaining and teaching about their wares. They never rushed or seemed anything but pleasant. I especially like the Venison, also in the Summer, they have a State program where for every 5 $ in food stamps you buy, they give you 2 $ coupons for fresh fruit and vegetables. An added bonus in Winter is getting to walk the Proctors arcade. Plenty of free parking always available.
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Okay I know it’s winter and I know it’s the holidays, but this farmers market is way way under mark.

Love it. We go every Sunday and always hit the same few stands. La Empanada Llama is a can’t-miss stop. So are the fresh veggies available (best bet is to visit each farm stand and gauge the cost of the item you’re looking for) and Palatine Cheese.

Great variety of vendors. Supports local farms and small businesses. Quality definitely above average. Very nice way to spend a hour or two with family and friends. Pixie’s, BuddaPesto, Smythe/​Cid Pottery, Barber Farms, Sonoria, RAD CO, and Lloyd Spears are top tier!!!

This is a surprisingly big Farmer’s Market tucked away on Jay Street in downtown Schenectady! During my most recent visit, I counted almost 40 vendors!
The vendors are all exceptionally nice — most have samples out for you to try their products, which was helpful. I tried a few different styles of hummus before settling on an outstanding roasted garlic one.
A few tips: One of the stands has farm fresh eggs. They’re leaps and bounds better than whatever Price Chopper has. Do yourself a favor and get a dozen. Also, the stand that sells honey is a game changer. It. Is. So. Fresh.
I’m thrilled to learn a good chunk of the stands are open year-​round (when it gets cold they relocate to Proctor’s Theater), which is wonderful news for local farms and businesses.
Your lazy Sunday morning awaits!

Love love love! I am there weekly and if not I must be sick! Never disappointed… Great choices and variety weekly. Must come and see for yourself! Eggs, Milk, Veggies… Gluten Free items oh boy!

Updating this to encompass «both seasons» now that we’ve been doing the outdoor version of the market for a bit. See earlier review for comments on the winter market.
It’s not quite as much fun in the summer, oddly enough, and not quite as useful. Yes, you get a TON of fresh produce from a variety of sources, but it’s not hard to find good produce in summer. You get the live music and such, but in a corner tent and away from everything else, it’s not quite as nifty as in the cramped quarters of Proctor’s with the multiple groups on different levels. I also expected more vendors in the outdoor version, but it’s not really that different from the winter market, just more spread out.
The plusses are definitely that you are NOT cramped when walking about, and it neatly adjoins the Jay Walk so you can amble through the businesses and the outdoor flea market there. It’s still a very good market (not quite great — it would need greater variety and volume to get to great) but an expensive way to shop for food.
There are a few favorite items we’ve gotten at the Greenmarket — breads, a few specialty gourmet items, certain varieties of vegetables — but have also been disappointed when the vendors didn’t carry them in a given week, ran out, or just didn’t show altogether. That makes it hard to plan a week of meals around the market.
As such, we continue to view the Greenmarket as more of an outing destination and not a place we aim at for shopping for basic needs.

Great variety of baked goods, cheeses and ready to eat food. This is in mid-​February! I’m so excited for it to move outside in the spring.

Absolutely amazing. Great food, great experience, and not expensive for the great, organic homemade food by true food artist that love what they do. Got great fresh, brick oven made bread, four kinds of cheeses (best feta I have ever had), peanuts pesto and more for around twenty bucks. Will bring more money next time for organic produce and other goods. Great way to eat organic, and healthy with out overspending. Oh and make sure to go on an empty stomach.

Loves it!
The Schenectady Greenmarket is really great! They have a little bit of everything!
Coffee from Ambition Café.
Inidan food that always smells ammmmazing but I’ve yet to try any. Produce, eggs, cheeses, wines, breads I even saw a balloon animal clown there last weekend. It’s your typical farmers market but for some reason, just a notch better :)
Going here always makes me happy.
I think it’s only open on Sundays from like 10:00 — 2:00 though. I’d love it if it was open on Saturdays as well. But I could be mistaken.
I’ve gotta rave about the Peaches from one of the vendors but I can’t recall the name. RATS!!!
So for now, I’ll just say they are the sweetest, juiciest peaches I’ve ever had and I’ll get them each and every time I go to Schenectady Greenmarket. And next time I’ll note the name of the vendor (BAD KARLY!).
The prices are good. We got huuuuuuuge cucumbers for $ 0.50 each. You can’t beat that with a stick!
Eggplant for $ 1 each (made amazing Eggplant tomatoe cheese bake with them tonight, Wow! So good!).
Love this place and will keep going back, again and again and again.
I will admit it was a little tricky to find the first time we went. We drove around by the front of Proctors looking for Jay St for like 10 minutes, then when we found it and realized we couldn’t turn down it we were a bit confused. But, all was solved when we parked right outside of Jay st and walked. No biggie or hassle at all. It’s actually a really quaint, cute street to walk down with book stores and cafes. I really enjoy it.

it’s so refreshing to see the Greenmarket in Downtown Schenectady. There are so many different vendors showcasing their amazing products. I have a soft spot for the Saratoga Peanut Butter Company — I even mentioned it in my guide on Schenectady —

So glad we finally made it here — I am enamored.
We came on a mission to buy vegetable plants and were not disappointed with the variety present. 5+ vendors were selling them, so we looped around investigating first then ended up going back to the first stall we had visited to make our purchases. We ended up getting 3 cuke, 3 zuke, 1 «tequila sunrise» pepper, 2 tomato (red variety and a yellow «kellogg’s breakfast variety), and 2 tomatillo plants for less than 20 bucks. The lady running the stall was very friendly and knowledgeable about the varieties she carried.
Unfortunately, we had already been grocery shopping (insert sad pout) and didn’t really need any more produce… everything looked fantastic! I was really excited to see rhubarb. If we weren’t on a mission to start a garden, no doubt we would’ve walked away with all kinds of produce, lotions, honey, peanut butter, wine… I can already see what is going to happen the next time we stop by.
The live music was a nice touch, and my husband was really excited to see someone playing the dulcimer at one end of the market.
It is worth mentioning that the entire market smells delicious thanks to the food vendors there, and I’ve already made a mental note to get some tamales the next time I visit.

Now that the weather is getting brighter and warmer, I decided it was time to make good on my goal to eat healthier and more local foods. I used
to find local farmers markets, and saw that Schenectady Greenmarket (SGM) had great ratings. A second check on Unilocal showed me that SGM was something I couldn’t afford NOT to go to, especially with it being open all-​year round and located nearby.
Today I went with the boyfriend, and we had a fun time! My agenda was to try My Linh’s banh mis and Maria’s tamales, since most of the Unilocal reviews raved about them. After walking around and checking out all the stalls, we finally found My Linh’s stand. They only had four prepackaged sandwiches left! Bummer. Undeterred, I went straight to Maria’s stall and ordered a pork tamale and the bf ordered a beef empanada. They were both good! and unfortunately for my boyfriend, I ended up eating his empanada too.
We found a covered seating area by the Thunder Mountain Curry vendor, where I also ordered a mango lassi. It wasn’t bad, cold enough to cool off the burn from the hot sauce on the tamale, but it was too sour for my preference. I wish I went back to try their sticky rice with coconut sauce and tropical fruit— they used dragonfruit (which I havent seen in ages) and iced lychee! I swear I’ll get it next time I come back to SGM.
The fresh produces from the vendors at this time of the year were mostly herbs, root vegetables, and lots of different types of Swiss chard. I was deadly jealous of other customers buying flowers and vegetable plants for their gardens. I wanted to plant something too but I have no garden space over at the apartment and with my thumb of doom, it’d be just money down the drain. I’m excited to see what kind of produce shows up later this spring and summer season; I bet there will be more variety then.
We ended up buying several bottles of white and dessert wines from Hudson-​Chatham winery, fresh sourdough baguettes from Our Daily Bread, and some organic cheese. Can’t wait to go back to SGM again!

This is a cute farmer’s market. It’s pretty small compared to others I’ve been to but the food all looked delicious.
Definitely a nice stop on a Sunday morning for anyone in the area.

I love winter farmers markets. They are a much needed resource in a place where it’s winter most of the year.
This one resides in Proctor’s Theater in downtown Schenectady. And it’s on Sundays. There is free parking in at least one if not two of the lots adjacent to the theater.
The market is divided into two floors. On street level are most of the locally made products: Pesto, peanut butter, cheese, yogurt, wine, blends of tea, pickles, bread, pastry, garlic dip, cupcakes, granola, etc. Go down the stairs and you’ll find the produce and meat along with an activity for kids and prepared foods from Thunder Mountain Curry, Ambition Café and others.
There is live music on both floors. And since it’s inside, there aren’t any bees to spoil the fun.
I hate bees.

You have to check this place out, it’s incredible! There’s a huge variety of foods. Mostly produce, but cheese, milk, jam, meat, eggs, bread, wine, and even peanut butter are available too. Other vendors sell soap, jewelry, candles and pottery. There are even masseuses on hand! If you’re hungry, get some Indian or Vietnamese food, or hit up the Red Barn booth for a pork chop on a stick! There was a band playing jazz today, apparently there is music every week. Awesome!
We got beets, carrots, onion, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, a loaf of bread, 6 apples, a jar of peanut butter, bison jerky, 1 macaroon (as big as my fist!), a piece of carrot cake, and a coffee for… $ 30? I’m pretty sure I forgot something too.
The other cool thing is that they take debit/​credit. I didn’t try it, so I’m not sure exactly how it works, but apparently you swipe your card and get tokens which are redeemable at the booths. I hate carrying cash, so this is a big plus for me!
Take a stroll on the Jay St. Walkway and check out the little shops while you’re there. Lots of great stuff!
Parking is easy, either park on the street, or one of the various lots.

We established a new routine this past winter that includes going to the Schenectady Greenmarket in Proctor’s every Sunday morning. We go for milk, eggs, veggies, and the like, and can end up leaving with hand cream, honey, granola, candles, jam, bread, cheese curds, you name it. I have heard from friends who are farmers’ market frequenters that the Schdy market is one of the largest and best in the area!
This is my first farmer’s market experience, and I feel very lucky to live just five minutes away from one of the best in the area. Schenectady may not have much, but what it does have, can be great, and it’s continuing to grow. The people are nice, the atmosphere is positive, not snobby or too «crunchy” – all in all we leave there feeling great and ready to enjoy the rest of our Sunday.

I haven’t actually visited many farmers market/​green markets around the capital region but from what I am use to down in North Carolina I think this one is justs okay. The Schenectady Green market is nice though, its actually quite large and a lot of different business come out Sunday morning. A lot of it is the same but some places definitely stand out. The majority is fresh produce which is what you would normally see and expect, but there are fresh breads, meats, and art related items as well. There is even a loose leaf tea place that I was most surprised for since we don’t have those in North Carolina.
FYI — Don’t bring your pets here! They are not allowed… and its rather annoying when people bring them and they can’t control their animal.

I can be pretty loyal to certain farmers markets. In past years, I’ve been slavishly devoted to the Troy, Menands and Central Ave. farmers markets, for instance.
This past weekend I couldn’t do my market trip on Saturday. I’d heard good things about this one and… it’s open Sundays from 10 a.m. — 2 p.m.
I might be in love.
This market has got to be one of the larger ones in the area. It’s produce-​heavy, as it should be, but with a health dose of dairy, meats and bakery goods, along with wines, hard ciders, a few crafts, an Indian street food vendor and even a Greyhound Adoption clinic.
Oh and music too, if you’re down for that kind of thing. I watched an adorable free-​spirited old woman dance what looked like a rain dance. Loved it.
Being my first time and all, I went a little hog wild. I walked away laden with heavy bags with a haul that included: rainbow chard, purple carrots, chiogga beets, Palatine smoked cheddar, French radishes, purple kale, corn, patty pan squash and some luscious deep purple cauliflower. Oh and eggs, and probably some other goodies I’ve forgotten. I could have bought a 100 more things if I thought they wouldn’t spoil before I’d have the chance to eat them.
Tomatillos? Oh yes! One of New York’s only Malbecs? Sign me up. Goat fromage blanc? Green plums? Early apples? Oh my!
Also, the coffee vendor is a cart run by the nearby Ambition Café. I’m picky about what coffee I’ll drink black and their Italian espresso fit the bill. Smooth and tasty without too much bitterness or yucky acidity.
And there’s an Amish family selling homemade lip balm and other goodies, a tea blend stand, and a woman selling funky printed aprons, amongst other things.
What’s also nice about the Greenmarket is that it’s in a relatively large space so it doesn’t feel cramped. I imagine this probably changes when it moves to its winter digs at Proctor’s.
Another bonus: if you’re short on cash, there’s a table where you can use your debit or credit card to purchase farmer’s market tokens. They also accept food stamp vouchers.
I’ve been raving about this market all week. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling everyone… hmmm…Schenectady, who knew?!