November 10, 2022

We're having our first post 2022 season board meeting this evening.  Although our 2022 season was a great success, it wasn't without challenges.  We've had a number of technology challenges with our social media accounts, website and email provider.  I'm hoping to get these fixed before the end of the calendar year. 

If you love the Hudson Farmers Market and want to see it sustianed and even see it improved, please consider volunteering to work the market during the season.  After a summer of volunteering, you'll be eligible to be on the market's board of directors.

For more information, please email me at [email protected]

Thank you
J Hudson
​Manager, Hudson Farmers Market

For me, yesterday was truly a special day at Hudson Farmers Market. It was our annual Tomato Festival and I love tomatoes – good ones, anyway. So, it was wonderful being able to showcase all the great varieties offered by the vendors at the market. It was really nice to be able to tip our hats to some great home gardeners, as well.

The day started with me labeling all the tomatoes entered into our tomato contest, followed by me chopping the more than 20 varieties for tasting by market visitors and our judges, John Altomare of Hudson's Restaurant, Catherine St. John of The Western Reserve School of Cooking, and Liz Murphy of Destination Hudson.

There was definitely a lot going on at the market – a cooking demonstration by Chef Derek Finnel from Nosh Eatery and Catering, who filled in for Chef Rick Carson, plus two contests. What was really neat though, was feeling all the positive energy among the vendors. There was so much excitement about our tomato and salsa contests. Vendors put in a lot of extra time making the salsa contest possible and market visitors showed a lot of appreciation for their efforts.

I have to say, our customers were tremendous. They not only tasted and voted for their favorite salsa, they also were willing to try tomatoes with names I had never heard before, such as Green Zebra and Berkeley Tie-dye.

Vendors and customers always interact at the market, but the Tomato Festival provided the opportunity for the interaction to reach another level. It was great to see both vendors and customers monitoring the voting and trying to keep abreast of who was in the lead in the salsa contest. Customers were talking to each other about what they had tasted and making sure no one missed out on all the goodies that were available at the market.

I salute all our vendors for making the Tomato Festival a lot of fun, but especially those who added to the flavor of the day by taking the time to prepare special products. I really hope you, too, were able to enjoy the festival. I'm already looking forward to next year.

See you on the green Saturday,
Audrey Hylton, Market Manager
[email protected]

I love babies and I love celebrating.

Today, I have the opportunity to celebrate the first baby born on my watch at the market. Madelyn Layne, who was born to farmer Brian “Tug” Teggart of Nosh Garden on the 4th of July is one month old.

Little Madelyn, who was so kind to her parents as to come with a ready-made birthday theme, is doing well, Tug tells me, although she is not very considerate about her parents' sleep schedule. She has really changed life for Tug and her mom, Cheryl. All I can say is, folks, welcome to the world of parenting.

I was probably more thrilled that Tug and Cheryl about Madelyn's birth on a national holiday. I mean, how great is that … everyone in the country having to celebrate your birthday.


I have an old friend whose birthday is Valentine's Day. She takes great pleasure in explaining that she “comes by being a sweetheart naturally.” I really liked the sound of that and 14 years ago, when my daughter, Nadia, was due to be born in February, I prayed for it to be on Valentine's Day. She had a mind of her own – she still does – and despite days of strenuous exercise and other unusual measures, she was born on February 23 – no national celebration, just a birthday of her own. And, now that I know her well, I believe that suits her just fine.

If my daughter is typical, I know in a few years Madelyn will probably be sleeping way more that her parents can appreciate.

I can't wait for Madelyn's first market appearance.

See you on the green one Saturday soon, Madelyn.
Audrey Hylton, Market Manager
[email protected]

I missed last Saturday's market. Wait, what I mean is that I missed being at the market and I'm pretty sure I spent more time than I should have wondering what I was missing. When I stopped to think about it, it was a bit funny because I've only been going to the market every weekend since June 8.

In seasons past, even though I loved having the market right downtown, I did not get there every weekend. Until last summer, I frequently worked weekends and felt lucky when I could get to the market at all.

Over the past few weeks, I've been so excited to get to the market on Saturday mornings that I spring out of bed at all kinds of odd hours. For a while, I thought it had something to do with the fact that I was new at the market manager position and wanted to make sure things went well. But over the weekend, I visited my mom and I finally made the connection – when I was a youngster, Saturday was market day.

That was before supermarkets sprang up everywhere and stayed open all hours of the day. It was before the farm to table “movement,” when farm to table was pretty much the only way food moved. It was back when you got up early to get to market before everything got picked over and vendors got up even earlier to bring you the very best they had to offer. Things just weren't flown in from across the globe.

I loved market day. I loved the colorful assortment of fruits and vegetables and the fragrant bunches of herbs. I loved vendors offering me samples of sweet, juicy fruit and giving me a chance to be part of the decision as to whether their goods would end up on my family's table. I loved traversing the market to find favorite vendors. I loved all the activity – the hustle and bustle. I guess I still do.

That's what makes Saturdays at Hudson Farmers Market so special and that's why I'm so excited to get there on Saturday morning.

See you on the green Saturday,
Audrey Hylton, Market Manager
[email protected]

In my first post, I promised I would offer insight into the market. I've spent the past two weekends getting to know our vendors a bit better and absorbing as much as I can. Let's just say, it takes quite a bit of coordination to get 30 plus vendors onto the green, smiling and ready to greet you at 9 a.m. I won't even get into what it's like clearing the green and returning it to its post-card perfect state. 

What I really want to share with you is how different it is to see the market from the inside out. As a shopper at the market, I depended on my eyes and nose to lead me through it, stopping where something caught my eye or a wonderful aroma drifted up and beckoned me. There were vendors that I never stopped to visit.

As a shopper, I asked polite questions of vendors and nodded and went on my way. Truthfully, there is seldom anything at the market that I've never seen or that I don't know how to cook and with the hustle and bustle of the market, I figured, why block other shoppers just so I can chit-chat?

Well, it turns out, our vendors love to talk. I've heard so many great stories about how they got started in their businesses and how they came to be at the Hudson Farmers Market. I've listened to them express their excitement about coming to market and their concern about bringing us their best stuff. In all my conversations with our vendors, there's been a common thread: They all have the same desire to bring the best quality and selection goods to our market patrons.

When I hear about all the thought and effort our vendors put into bringing food to our table (and other goods to Hudson's front yard), I feel really blessed to have such a wonderful place to head to on Saturday morning.

See you on the green Saturday,

Audrey Hylton, Market Manager
[email protected]