PHOTO | PAULA MULLER
Emily Goncalves of Salem checks out the tomatoes at Clark Farm Stand at the Swampscott Town Hall green on Sunday.
By MATT DEMIRS
SWAMPSCOTT— Over 15 vendors and hundreds of residents from all over Massachusetts and New England gathered Sunday at the Swampscott Farmers Market for its opening day at a new location.
“This is a great opening day,” said Swampscott Recreation Department director Danielle Strauss. “We’ve created more community space like chairs and seating so families can come down and hang out play corn hole, giant jenga, and have a cup of coffee.”
Strauss said the location has also brought in a lot of walking traffic from the beach, which was something the market didn’t get a lot of behind the high school.”
The market is now held on the lawn of Swampscott Town Hall after moving from the parking lot behind Swampscott High School.
The new location gives beach strollers a chance to pop in on the action.
That’s exactly what Mark Krupski did when he saw the market on a bike ride from Boston to Marblehead. He was enjoying a cannoli from Prezioso: The Cannoli Corner.
The cyclist from Minnesota, who said he is taking a three-week class at Harvard, had intentions of riding to Marblehead but had to stop to check out the crowd, live music, and vendors when he was riding by. Once he saw the sign for Cannolis, he was hooked.
“You gotta have a cannoli whenever you can,” he said.
Various vendors came out for opening day, like K Cake Creations, a local Swampscott bakery service, Postcard Coffee, and Ackermann Maple Farm, who hails all the way from Vermont with natural maple syrup flavor the state is known for. They’ve been coming to the market for four years now.
Vendors saw great business in the new spot.
Kate Weakley of The Fish Market Marblehead said the lines were instant. After selling out of salmon burgers in the first hours, the owner, Deb Lewis had to make another delivery.
The market, which welcomed dogs, even had a vendor dedicated to families’ four-legged friends. CEO of Michael Moran’s Natural Pet Food, Mary Ellen Fletcher has been coming to the market since the beginning and believes the new location is great.
“The first weekend always has a great showing of people,” she said.
Rachel Bennett, of the new Lightning Coffee shop in the Lydia Pinkham building, was spotted in the crowd. The Lynn business owner, who lives in Swampscott, said she hopes to bring some roasting of her own to the market although she’s unsure of when that may be.
The only downside of the new location, Strauss said, is the lack of parking since customers are left to mainly park along side streets.
Nonetheless, the opening day was much loved.
“I like where it is now,” said the retired public school teacher and resident Mary Clain. She started attending the Farmer’s Market at it’s inception in 2012. “It’s more open with views of the water and there are a lot more people.”
The Farmers Market takes place at 22 Monument Ave. every Sunday, rain or shine at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m until October.
Matt Demirs can be reached at [email protected]