A year-round, weekday farmers market is coming to Pearlstone Park in Mount Vernon starting this Thursday, June 27, from 2 to 7 p.m.
The market was conceived after Eddie’s of Mount Vernon, the only grocery store in the neighborhood, closed last summer and car-free residents in the neighborhood began asking questions about how they would access groceries.
Pearlstone Market manager Joseph Colona was one of those residents. Even with the grocery store planning its return this summer, he believes the farmers market will fill a necessary gap for residents in and near Mount Vernon.
“I realized how weak our access to food was in the neighborhood,” Colona said.
“’Cause if we’re dependent on one grocery store … then people with wealth, people with access to cars, the people who could afford delivery services don’t notice, and then people at the bottom, people who are struggling, do notice, but wouldn’t be able to put on a market demand.”
With the light rail stopping right next to Pearlstone Park and a number of bus lines going through Mount Vernon, Colona said he hopes the weekly market can serve residents from beyond the neighborhood as well.
He plans to start out with a produce vendor, a butcher, and a creamery for essentials, in addition to coffee, food, clothing and jewelry vendors that will help offset costs for the grocery vendors and make the farmers market more of an experience.
In addition to providing basic grocery access, the goal of the market is to make Pearlstone Park, one of the few green spaces in dense Mount Vernon, a more functional and active space.
Colona was first encouraged to pursue the farmers market by city councilman-elect
Zac Blanchard in Blanchard’s role as vice president of economic development for the Midtown Community Benefits District, an advocacy organization that represents Bolton Hill, Charles North, Madison Park, and Mount Vernon.
Blanchard said he had been in conversations with stakeholders at MICA, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric about how to draw more residents into Pearlstone Park when the idea of a farmers market came up.
Colona, who has a food service and event coordination background, coincidentally reached out to him the same week about putting on a farmers market, and the Midtown Community Benefits District offered its support via its trash pick-up program.
“Outside of Mount Vernon Place, like the Washington Monument, there’s really basically no green space in all of Mount Vernon except for Pearlstone Park,” Blanchard said.
“Finding a way to use the farmers market to activate that space was more the driving thing, though food security is obviously huge.”
Stakeholders at the BSO and MICA have echoed their support for the activation of Pearlstone Park as well.
“The vision for the new farmers market at Pearlstone Park complements our event days perfectly, providing fresh, local food and beverage options for our musicians, staff, and patrons,” Whitney Clemmons Brown, director of communications for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, said in an email.
“This initiative, part of broader investments in the park, supports the cultural and community engagement goals shared by the BSO, the Lyric, and our Midtown partners. We value the collaboration with the Pearlstone family and others dedicated to revitalizing this key neighborhood space.”
“MICA is proud to see the continued growth of Midtown and Pearlstone Park as a social hub. As a community-oriented institution, we believe access to affordable and healthy food is essential for a thriving Baltimore. The Pearlstone Market is a very welcome addition to our neighborhood,” Kevin Moreno, special assistant to the president at MICA, wrote in an email.
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