Give Us This Day our Daily Bread and Other Signs of Life in Farmers Market's Shed No. 2

There's a little more life in Dallas Farmers Market's Shed No. 2 these days; it's no longer just Mawker Coffee, the Kurry King, meat and cheese outta Greenville, soaps and jewelry and some "imported" tchotchkes. $3.2 million later, it's still a long way from being the "foodie's delight" promised by...

By Robert Wilonsky

November 29, 2009

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There's a little more life in Dallas Farmers Market's Shed No. 2 these days; it's no longer just Mawker Coffee, the Kurry King, meat and cheese outta Greenville, soaps and jewelry and some "imported" tchotchkes. $3.2 million later, it's still a long way from being the "foodie's delight" promised by the city, but it's "trying its best despite the city," says one vendor while pointing out Rosey Ridge Farm's Mennonite-made breads and jams (praise the Lord, indeed) and the Texoma Winery product available for $1 per sampling.

But those and others are transient tenants selling product off folding tables; the city still has to figure out how to get vendors to sign agreements without locking them into choke-hold contracts. That said, you can't help but notice the latest vendor moving into the front of the shed -- the "Chicago style deli" at top, whose counter is under construction. (Dallas, apparently, has given up trying to do a decent New York-style deli and headed instead for Chicago.) This is as "permanent" as it gets, but we're short on details till Monday morning.

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