Discover Venice 2023-2024
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1512151
10 Discover Venice Venice Farmers Market a staple downtown Staff Report I f you can't find what you want at the Venice Farmers' Market, they probably just haven't grown it yet. Or woven it. Or poured it into a jar. Or prepared it for an oven. The farmers' market, located in downtown Venice, near City Hall (401 W. Venice Ave.) is open every Saturday year-round, rain or shine. Patrons can enjoy live music from local entertainers, food and drinks, local produce and handmade goods from vendors. The market features dozens of vendors each week. One is Cindy Hupper, which, she says, "rhymes with 'supper,'" which her fruits and vegetables help provide. Englewood-based C&F Produce has graced the Venice Farmers' Market for 27 years. It's the only market Hupper sells at. She bought the company from its original owner and has endured several moves around downtown. "It's more (a problem of) the customers learning where we are," Hupper said. Michael Crider, who owns The Fouta Spa, has a booth where he sells cotton from Tunisia. He imports 100 percent cotton bath towels, beach towels, bedspreads, table cloths, robes and the like. (Fouta is Arabic for "towel".) "They last forever. They're very soft," Crider said. "My wife is European and in Europe you will find these everywhere—Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Tunisia, which is where they're from, or Turkey." Crider says a few years ago they started working with a Tunisian weaver, began importing the products "and we've been doing it ever since." Dana and Julie Chase are New Englanders who vacationed in southwest Florida but could not find meat that they enjoy. So they started selling it. Twelve years ago Butcher's Block Sarasota started selling marinated sirloin tips, what Julie calls "a real New England favorite." They get their meat from a butcher shop in Danvers, Mass. Other foods they feature are New England favorites such as stuffed clams, sole and cod. But they also source from Ocala, grass-fed and grass- finished, pasture raised beef, bison, chicken and pork. Additionally, Dana makes homemade meatloaf and homemade chicken pie. He also prepares sole and cod that you can just put in the oven and bake. They also sell pulled pork, wild-caught ahi tuna, salmon, crabcake and clams. Julie says if you buy something early in your visit to the Venice Farmers' Market they'll refrigerate it until you're ready to leave. Kristy West is a registered nurse who runs a booth for Young Living, a 30-year-old, Utah-based company. "They've really brought back essential oils, like ancient medicine to modernize," West said. "They used it way back when Jesus was born – remember frankincense, myrrh? "It's had a resurgence in understanding because now we understand the chemistry … We understand essential oils have powerful chemistry to affect our bodies in positive ways." For more information about the Venice Farmers' Market, go to thevenicefarmersmarket.org. SUN PHOTO BY ED SCOTT Cindy Hupper and Faustino Jacobo of Englewood-based C&F Produce. SUN PHOTO BY ED SCOTT Mike Crider owns The Fouta Spa. SUN PHOTO BY ED SCOTT Sharon Lesko, Kristy West and Tara Gess of Young Living Essential Oils.