After barely surviving the night before, Justin and I decided that we wanted to do something calming on Saturday. So I looked through the events page on AnnArbor.com (I would've failed so many times if not for that page) and found the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market. The thing about living in Ann Arbor for seven years and not having gone to the Farmer's Market is that it might actually be an unforgivable offense. Realizing that I'd angered the Gods of Ann Arbor (also know as Yost (the God of Winter), Bo (the God of Class) and Jake (the God of Joy)), I decided it was time to stop putting off a visit to the market.
The first thing that made my day at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market was the utterly and deeply eclectic nature of the booths. There were handmade clocks, fresh veggies, bread I could smell from several yards away and tapestries. That's right. There were tapestries. Not to mention the annuals, honey, soap and ice cream. Now, I've been to a farmer's market before - a good one in fact. I went to the farmer's market in Eau Claire when I was there a few years back for a kubb tournament.
It was nothing compared to the Ann Arbor version though. For me, the biggest realization was the fact that there are so many farms and local artisans in the area. The creativity and passion of the people of Ann Arbor is something that I generally understand intellectually, but seeing it gathered into one small location with people teeming about, well, that's an entirely different experience.
So much concentrated creativity...
As we walked around, I thought about how lovely it would be to make a weekly trip down to the farmer's market. Waking up early, going for a walk among the vendors and buying veggies for the week. There's something that's just so... Americana-nostalgic about walking through the market. See, I know a lot of what Ann Arbor has to offer. Not all, by any means. But, we're talking about the same city that has The Fleetwood, a prestigious Film Festival, and one of the most famous universities in the world. How easy would it be for the whole of Ann Arbor to fall victim to the faster pace set by many large cities?
Instead, its possible to stroll. I haven't strolled in years. It was an absolute delight!
Well, that and I found a zucchini big enough to kill a small yak. So there's that.
You've lived here SEVEN YEARS and NEVER been to the farmers market??!?¡?
ReplyDeleteWows....