Without any prior publicity, the Genesee Country Farmers' Market opened for the season today.

The public market is now located over by the former JC Penney building off of Alva Place. 

We have no information on hours of operation this year.

It was a perfect summer day for the opening of the Downtown Public Market in Batavia. Of course, rules were in place requiring masks and social distancing.

The Batavia Downtown Public Market opened Friday at Alva Place and Bank Street.

It was a bright, beautiful day for the first day of the Batavia's Downtown Public Market at Bank and Alva.

In addition to many returning favorites for the Genesee County Farmer's Market, there were two new vendors at the market today, Market Manager Mike Bakos told WBTA. 

Pickle Annie's offers a variety of pickles as well as flavored cider vinegar, which Bakos said is supposed to be good for joint health.

Also new this year is Bad Ash BBQ (The Batavian's publisher and editor can recommend the pulled pork sandwich with baked beans and coleslaw).

"This is a really good spot for the market because we can attract vendors all season long and expand," Bakos said. "We can make the market bigger as needed and that’s really nice."

The market sells $5 Farmers Market Money gift certificates and if you buy $45 worth you get another $5 free.  

The market also accepts SNAP benefits and thanks to a grant, through July, customers who use their SNAP benefits card at the market will receive a $2 coupon for each $5 purchased from a food vendor.

The Public Market located at Bank Street and Alva Place parking lot will welcome back more than 20 vendors again this summer and fall, along with some brand-new vendors. Market hours will continue on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This year’s market will host a special Kids Day on Aug 10th.

If you are interested in being a vendor at the Downtown Batavia Public Market please contact Mike Bakos at MBakos@rochester.rr.com or 716.866.4958. Follow “Genesee Country Farmer’s Market” on Facebook for updates on produce and specialty items available.

Biting into a fresh and juicy peach is a reminder that, regardless of gray skies and rain, summer is definitely upon us. This week there is a large selection of fruits and veggies that are just coming into season: field-grown tomatoes, sweet corn, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, and plums. This is also prime time for pickling cucumbers.   Peaches are available, too, but freestone peaches (for canning, where the pit is easily removed) will be ready around Aug. 10th. 

We are all familiar with advertisements from stores announcing the “last chance” to buy something at a low price. My phone has been ringing with the same prerecorded call for the last three years, notifying me of my “last chance” to lower the interest rate on my credit card. I don’t believe it. But here in New York, our time to buy fresh, local food really is limited. Nature doesn’t let us grow berries in January. Now is the time to slice a red (or yellow, or purple) ripe tomato onto your salad this summer. Don’t miss the opportunity. 

Last summer, our local farmers were affected by the drought. But today it’s raining, again. At the Genesee Country Farmer’s Market, I asked Sharon from Schwab Farms in Gasport how the rain has been affecting their crops.

“We prefer it a little drier…but everything looks beautiful,” Sharon said with a smile. 

The Genesee Country Farmer’s Market is located at the corner of Bank Street and Alva Place (near JCPenney) in Downtown Batavia, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Fresh produce and baked goods are available every market day, but Friday has a larger variety of vendors and more craft and specialty items. 

The Batavia Downtown Public Market season has started and the market will be open three days a week this year, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Above, one of the vendors, Charleen Satkowski, of Harper Hill Farm, of Darien.

The new public market -- a merger of the Business Improvement District's public market and the Genesee County Farmers' Market -- opened at Bank Street and Alva Place today.

A new vendor this year is Big Bossman's BBQ, run by Anthony Person, of Lockport.

Person said his family has a long tradition in the food business, and after his mother died recently, he wanted to keep the tradition going.

Fighting back tears, Pearson told WBTA's Alex Feig that he was president of his mother's company, Mrs. Ribs, but after she died, he didn't want to trade on her name, so he bought his own truck and called it Big Bossman's, a name his parents used for their first restaurant, which they ran out of their home.

The recipes have been handed down generation after generation in his family, from mother to mother to mother, going back to the family's days as slaves in the South. 

He was pleased to get invited to be a vendor in Batavia, he said.

"I’m a small businessman just trying to make an honest living just like anybody else, always looking for a way to expand my market, sell my product in new areas, and Batavia, I’ve always wanted to come this way and the Farmers' Market offered me a chance to showcase my cuisine," he said.

The market will be open for business from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and will run through Oct. 28, weather permitting.

The Batavia Business Improvement District (BID) is pleased to announce the beginning of the season for the Genesee Country Farmers’ Market located at the Downtown Batavia Public Market.

The market is located at Bank and Alva streets and will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays beginning this Friday, June 10^th until Oct. 28^th.

The market will offer fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, coffee, crafts and more.

Please come this Friday to join the many others who support the newly merged markets and to support the Downtown with this new venture.

For questions regarding the market, please contact Market President Bob Austen at (585) 991-8339.

The produce truck will make two stops in the county every Monday. The first stop will be from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at the Gillam Grant Community Center in Bergen. The second stop will be from 11:15 a.m. to noon in the United Memorial Jerome Center parking lot in Batavia. The market will run through mid-September. 

The goal of the market is to make fresh fruits and vegetables easily accessible to the community at affordable prices. Cash, debit, EBT and WIC will be accepted as forms of payment. For every $5 SNAP purchase, people will receive a $2 bonus.