Farmers markets by day of the week

Charlotte’s farmers markets run seven days a week if you know the schedule, and almost nobody does, because each market publishes its own. This guide sorts them by day. The market listings in the directory are thin (markets are community listings and list free, so if you run one, list it); where a market has a listing it links, and where it doesn’t we describe it from the market’s own site and ask for the listing. The farms and food businesses that sell at them link to the directory. Seasons run roughly April through November for the neighborhood markets and year-round for the big ones.

Saturday

Saturday is market day everywhere. The Mount Holly Farmers Market runs Saturday mornings with a 75-mile producer rule, live music and a kids’ club, per its listing; it’s the model of a small-town market and the one to show a newcomer. Josh’s Farmers Market in Mooresville is the lake’s Saturday market, and Cottage Grove Bakery sells its English bakes there most Saturdays. The Charlotte Regional Farmers Market on Yorkmont Road, the state-run market, is the giant, year-round, with the wholesale sheds and the retail ones, open Saturdays and most weekdays. The Matthews Community Farmers Market, producer-only and one of the region’s oldest, runs Saturday mornings by the town’s depot. Davidson’s Saturday market on the town green, Concord’s on Union Street, Waxhaw’s downtown, Fort Mill’s and Rock Hill’s Old Town: every ring-town Main Street has one and the town pages list the hours. Our read: Matthews or Mount Holly for the producer-only experience, the Regional Market for volume, Davidson for the college-town morning.

Sunday

Birkdale Village in Huntersville hosts Sunday markets on its main street, per its listing, the shopping-center version with vendors and music. The Charlotte Regional Market is open Sundays in season. South End’s Sunday markets by the Rail Trail come and go by year. Sunday is also the day for the long lunch after.

Tuesday through Friday

The weekday markets are the small ones: the Uptown market at the Square or the 7th Street Public Market’s producer days, the hospital-campus markets on weekday afternoons, the Kings Drive market in Midtown (one of the city’s oldest, open several weekdays in season), and the Regional Market’s weekday hours. Weekday markets are where the restaurants shop and where a shopper gets the tomatoes before Saturday’s crowd. The 7th Street Public Market Uptown is an indoor market hall open daily, with vendors rather than farmers, and it’s the rainy-day market.

Year-round

The Charlotte Regional Farmers Market runs all year, thinner in January but open. The 7th Street Public Market is indoors and daily. The rest close in November and reopen in April, with holiday editions in December that the lights and markets guide lists.

What you’ll find, and who sells it

The producers in the directory sell at these markets: Kefi Vineyards‘ wine, The Packing House‘s apple butter, J’s Homemade elderberry, Meat Mafia‘s cuts, the eggs, honey and pasture-raised meat in the producer guide, the bread from the bakery guide, and the u-pick farms in the farms guide selling what you didn’t pick. Strawberries in May, tomatoes and corn in July, peaches from the Sandhills in August, apples and pumpkins in October, greens and sweet potatoes through November.

The rules

Producer-only markets (Matthews, Mount Holly and most of the town markets) require that the seller grew or made it, usually within a set radius; the Regional Market mixes producers with resellers, and the signs say which. Bring cash and small bills; most vendors take cards now, but the line moves faster with cash. Bring your own bags. Arrive early for the eggs and the bread, which sell out by 9; arrive late for the deals on what’s left. Dogs are allowed at some and not others; check. And SNAP and EBT are accepted at the larger markets, often with a matching program that doubles the value on produce.

The market as a Saturday

The reason the Saturday markets matter is what surrounds them. Matthews’ market sits by the depot and the town’s Main Street with Mario’s for lunch after. Mount Holly’s is a walk from J.R. Cash’s. Davidson’s is across from Sincerely Tea House and a block from Carrburritos. Concord’s is on Union Street among The Sweet Life, Cellar Door and The Depot Deli. Mooresville’s Josh’s is ten minutes from Famous Toastery. A market at 8, breakfast at 9:30 and the town’s shops until noon is the Saturday the town pages were written for.

Selling at one

The producer-only markets take applications each winter for the spring season and inspect the farm or the kitchen; the cottage-food rules for baked goods and jams are the state’s, and the county health department permits anything that needs refrigeration. The Regional Market rents daily and monthly stalls. A market stall is how Cottage Grove Bakery built a business before a storefront, and the business guide has the rest of the path.

The market week

Saturday at Matthews or Mount Holly at 8. Sunday at Birkdale at 11. A weekday afternoon at Kings Drive or the Regional Market for the midweek restock. The 7th Street market when it rains. And the brunch guide for the meal that follows the Saturday market, which is the meal Charlotte does best. Run a market we haven’t listed, or know a day we’ve got wrong? List it or tell us; this is the guide that most needs the markets’ own listings.