Even in winter, farmers and loyal customers flock to a city parking lot in Waverly

Wearing thick mittens on a recent raw and rainy Saturday morning, Marc Rey was busy tracking down missing portable bathrooms at the 32nd Street Farmers' Market in Waverly. The company that provides them was running late.

“People stay in bed when it's like this,” said Rey, 73, of Tuscany-Canterbury, who is president of the farmers' market board. But hundreds of customers were milling around the market, and 40 of the usual 50 vendors, including popular anchors like South Mountain Creamery, Zeke's Coffee and Blacksauce Kitchen, were on hand.

Miranda Betts of the Farm to Face falafel stand was more interested in selling food than finding portable potties.

“To tell you the truth, I don't use them,” she said.

Far from miserable, most marketgoers looked downright happy as they shopped for items that included fruits, vegetables, lamb, coffee, Caribbean food, Cajun peanut butter and scones with semi-sweet chocolate, caramel and peanuts. At least one vendor was selling winter clothing.

“It's not that cold,” said Naomi Levin of Charles Village, perusing produce with her husband, Ben Passey, and their son, Aaron Passey, 2. For them, the weekly Saturday-morning market, the only year-round one in Baltimore, is an opportunity to see folks they know and “people-watch” the ones they don't.

The market provides staples of their health-conscious diet, including their Thanksgiving turkey. “You can get real food here,” Levin said. “We get a lot of our calories for the week.”

Most people think of farmers' markets as rites of spring and summer, but the 32nd Street market, set up on a parking lot between 33rd and 32nd streets at the intersection of University Parkway, Merryman Lane and Barclay Street, does a healthy business in winter, too.

The number of weekly customers — 1,500 during market hours of 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays in January and February — is a far cry from the 4,000 the market draws in July and August, Rey said. But, he said, 1,500 are more than enough to keep the 36-year-old market economically viable.

“We have a fiercely loyal customer following, so even on a miserable day like this, customers show up,” said Rey, a retired Western High School English teacher. Though most of the market's clientele live in Waverly, Guilford, Abell, Oakenshawe, Charles Village, Roland Park, Bolton Hill and Reservoir Hill, Rey said he has one longtime customer from Annapolis who comes in winter as well as the rest of the year.

He still remembers the market opening amid deep drifts of snow after the back-to-back storms in February 2010, and last winter, when it was so cold in January that he wore a ski mask and set up outdoor heaters. Rey said this year's Jan. 22-23 snowstorm was bad enough and predicted far enough in advance that he and the board decided there was nothing else to do but close.

“We like to say we only close for hurricanes and blizzards,” he said. “This was our blizzard.”

And the timing was so bad, with snow predicted to fall from Friday night through Saturday, that Rey could make his own prediction about what the state of the parking lot would be.

He knew that “the lot will have a good foot of snow on it,” he said. “We can't plow all that.”

He was also concerned for the safety of customers and vendors, who come from as far away as the Eastern Shore and were already calling or emailing to say they wouldn't take the risk.

Warmer weather soon began to melt the snow, and the city government, which earns revenue from people renting spaces in the parking lot, had it cleared by the next Saturday market. The only real problem was that crews pushed the snow into mounds that blocked some of the parking spaces, Rey said. But winter is a slower time anyway, so the loss of spaces wasn't as big a problem.

Rey said he and his vendors consider closing the market only as a last resort.

“This is a mild winter compared to last,” he said. “Our policy is, you're not going to have ideal weather, but we're not going to close for a few flakes of snow or 15-degree weather.”

Rey said customers and vendors tell him: “Cows are still producing milk. The chickens are still laying eggs.”

Statewide, 10 farmers' markets operate year-round. Three of those, Waverly, Silver Spring and Takoma Park, accept food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Other year-round markets are in Chestertown, Kensington, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Frederick, Hagerstown and Salisbury, according to the Maryland Farmers' Market Association, which keeps a database of markets on its website, marylandfma.org, but does not collect information on sales or attendance.

The Waverly, Silver Spring and Takoma Park markets “continue to thrive throughout the winter,” said Michele Levy of Remington, deputy director of the Baltimore-based association and a weekly shopper at the Waverly market. “Though vendors and shopper attendance [are] less robust than during the summer market, sales and spirits remain high.”

Levy said that based on her observations and conversations, “there is tremendous consumer demand for year-round access to fresh, high-quality, locally produced foods. In many ways, the greatest testament to the need for and interest in the winter market is simply its continued operation. For farmers to travel into the city, regardless of weather or temperature, the investment must be worth the return.”

Even for some regulars, winter weather can be daunting.

But Janet Felsten of Roland Park said, “It could be a lot worse,” and added, “I always run into people I know. I have great conversations. I come away with more than food.”

“The cold doesn't matter. It's more important to get your fruits and vegetables from a local farm,” said environmental scientist Sarah Koser, 39, of Mayfield.

“We come every single week,” said Nathaniel Comfort, 53, of Oakenshawe, a Johns Hopkins University professor who teaches the history of medicine. “We want what's in season,” he said, referring to himself and his service dog, Sailor.

With new technology and more urban farming, “in-season” is a relative term. Many people are able to grow vegetables like tomatoes in special greenhouse-like tunnels, Rey said, “and they taste like summer tomatoes.”

“The year-round winter markets do well in Maryland, particularly with a climate in which many crops can be grown year-round and in tunnels or protected environments,” said Amy Crone, founder and executive director of the farmers' market association.

“We're going to go with tunnels this year,” said Hal Zimmerman of Thanksgiving Farm in Frederick County, as he sold produce to a steady stream of market-goers.

The market in winter is worth most vendors' while, even farmers who drive several hours from as far away as the Eastern Shore and sell at many of the region's farmers' markets. At the Waverly market, they can earn anywhere from several hundred dollars to $2,000 on a Saturday morning, Rey said, though he stressed that he's only privy to what vendors are earning when there's an occasional robbery at the market, which has its own off-duty city police officer, Wayne Early.

The only concession that Mark Stephenson of Salisbury-based Nuts to You makes to winter is that “in the bad weather, I don't bring everything out.”

Cindi Umbarger of Woolsey Farm in Churchville in Harford County has been selling lamb and beef at the Waverly market since 2001 and says the number of vendors has tripled.

“It's so much busier,” said Umbarger, who shares a stand with egg, sausage, honey and poultry vendors, including Andy's Eggs and Poultry, which sold 354 dozen eggs on a recent Saturday.

“I've had a tremendous week, in the dead of winter,” Umbarger said.

One of the biggest draws at the market on this recent Saturday was the cheese and dairy stand run by Pam and Mike Miller, who own Charlottetown Farm in Freeland. Setting up a propane heater helped draw customers.

“We love it here,” said Pam Miller, who wore four layers of clothing. She has been selling food at the market for three years and said, “Saturday is my favorite day of the week.”

Also braving the weather was Phyllis Jaslow, a longtime supporter of the Village Learning Place, a community-run library and center, who hands out fliers weekly promoting “2nd Wednesdays at the VLP,” a free monthly cultural series she started in an effort to draw more adults to the VLP.

Also there as usual were people handing out the free newspaper The Spark, whose stated goals include revolution by the working class.

Several volunteers for the group Food and Water Watch tried to get people to sign petitions supporting a proposed state law that would hold poultry companies accountable for pollution.

Some of the market's amateur musicians, who play for fun or donations, took a pass on this Saturday.

“Snow and rain keep me from my appointed rounds,” said accordion player and retired social worker Mark Vidor of Rodgers Forge. But he still came as a customer and bought pastry and a cup of coffee.

“It's a great way to start a Saturday morning,” he said.