Audio By Carbonatix
I’m used to getting to a farmers market early, in an attempt to get the best produce but Wednesday’s pop-up market at Eco-Op’s building inside 10137A Shoreview was a little dismal when I showed up right at 5 p.m. yesterday. A few vendors set up tables, including those Bee Keeper’s Guild folks we love so much, We Me Dallas and Calais Winery. Produce, on the other hand, was hard to come by.
While Paul Quinn Farm eventually showed up with some cukes, okra and flowers, the Market was clearly still getting off the ground. Chad Julka, one of the organizers of the market, admitted they’re facing some challenges. We talked in the back room of the co-op amongst countless bins of wriggling worms the Texas Worm Ranch uses to make compost, castings and other organic fertilizers. It wasn’t unsettling at all.
Eco-Op’s Pop-Up Market is hosted in the small atrium at the front of the building, but that should change soon as the weather continues to cool and Julka comes up with a plan to run electricity out to the parking lot in front of the building.
Julka is also working to bring more farmers, and hopefully more booze in the future too. Julka told me Deep Ellum Brewing Company supported the first market but determined the party wasn’t large enough to make dragging a keg all the way out there worth their time. Lakewood Brewing should be attending the next market and a representative from US Food Trucks promised more trucks would be coming to subsequent markets, too.
The next market will be held October 17.
