Meta description (153 chars): Cazenovia Farmers Market opened its 31st season May 2 with 26 vendors at Memorial Park. Saturdays 9 AM-2 PM through October 24. Strict 50-mile sourcing rule.
Lead
The first asparagus of the year showed up Saturday in Cazenovia. So did sourdough loaves baked Friday night, raw maple syrup tapped from a sugarbush in its fifth generation of family ownership, and pasture-raised sausage from a farm started on Chittenango Creek in 1979. Saturday, May 2, was opening day at the Cazenovia Farmers Market, the 31st summer the village has run one. If you live anywhere within driving distance of Madison County and you eat food, this is the kind of weekend that matters.
The market runs every Saturday from 9 AM to 2 PM at Memorial Park on Albany Street, and it goes through October 24. Twenty-six vendors are confirmed for the 2026 season. Every one of them lives or farms within a 50-mile radius of Cazenovia, which is a strict rule the market manager enforces. There is no resale produce, no trucked-in fruit from Pennsylvania, no jam shipped up from Brooklyn under a small-batch label. If a vendor sells it at this market, the vendor or their farm partner grew it, raised it, baked it, or made it within an hour’s drive of where you are standing.
This story came from public records we pulled ourselves
Get the next one, plus overnight incidents, in your inbox at 6 AM. Free, no spam.
That sourcing rule is what a lot of farmers markets claim and few enforce. Cazenovia has been doing it for 31 years and it is one of the reasons people drive in from Syracuse, Hamilton, Oneida, and Sherburne to shop here.
Why this Saturday
The first weekend of May is when Central New York agriculture finally catches up to the calendar. Asparagus is just coming up. Rhubarb is ready. Spring radishes, scallions, salad greens, overwintered spinach, herb starts, tomato seedlings if you garden, and the year’s first cut flowers are all on the tables. Strawberries are still about three weeks out. Local honey, maple, baked goods, and meat run year-round.
Hartwood Farm, run by Matt and Maryellen Robinson out of Chittenango, brings vegetables and eggs and is one of the largest produce vendors at the market. Frosty Morning Farm, certified organic by NOFA-NY since 1998, has been selling at Cazenovia since 2000 and brings mixed organic vegetables, cut flowers, herbs, handmade soap, and dried herbal products from their land in Truxton.
Brownson Family Farm, founded in 1979 by James and Debra Brownson on the banks of Chittenango Creek and now run by the founders and their six grown children, brings pasture-raised sausage including sweet and hot Italian, breakfast sausage, unsmoked side pork, ground beef, sweet corn later in the season, jams, jellies, preserves, and mustards from their farm stand at 8149 Bridgeport Kirkville Road in Kirkville.
Bender Hill Maple, a fifth-generation family farm in Chittenango, brings small-batch wood-fired maple syrup, maple cream, maple sugar, maple cotton candy, maple-infused nuts, and flavored rubs.
Chiara’s Bakery brings small-batch sourdough and cookies. The bakery is registered with New York State as a home processor cottage bakery and works without preservatives. Dangerously Delicious Breads brings additional bread. Awa’s Petit Flour brings pastries.
Plumb Rocky Farm, headquartered in West Winfield about 35 miles southeast of Cazenovia, brings produce. Navarino Orchard, off Route 20 in Syracuse, brings strawberries when they come in starting around June 13, plus pies, breads, and cookies, and apples through the fall.
Two dozen others fill out the rest of the green: Kimmi K Apiary and Farm with honey, Dizzy Lizzie’s Farm with produce, Drink NY Craft with non-alcoholic options, LaBamba, Mad Pickle Company with fermented goods, Whitney Tavern Farm, Local Roots, Antimoc Crafts, Brown Sugar Pixie, Cazenovia Lumber and Oil Co., Chuck’s Woodchucks, Fairievalley, Gingerworks, Lotus Bear Ceramics, Nick Makes Candles, ThreadX Gems, and the Cazenovia Garden Club.
That is the published list on the Cazenovia Chamber of Commerce site as of opening day. Vendors rotate week to week. Not every vendor on that list will be at every market.
How the 50-mile rule works
Most farmers markets in Central New York have some version of a local-sourcing requirement. Few are this strict. The Cazenovia market requires every vendor to reside within a 50-mile radius of Cazenovia, period. That is the rule for all 26 vendors. Vendors apply, the market reviews their applications on a selection basis, and entry is not guaranteed.
The radius cuts a circle that includes Syracuse to the northwest, Utica to the east, Hamilton and Sherburne to the south, and Cazenovia at the center. It is enough to give the market 26 distinct producers without overlapping product categories too much. It is small enough that you cannot fudge it. A vendor in Vermont or in the Hudson Valley would not pass the geography test, no matter what their product is.
Payment at the market is cash or check only. Vendors run their own change. There is no central market booth that processes credit cards.
What’s actually in season May 2 to early June
The reality of May produce in Central New York is that it is mostly green and mostly leafy. Here is the realistic shopping list for the first three or four Saturdays of the season.
Now (early to mid May): asparagus, rhubarb, overwintered spinach, baby kale, arugula, scallions, spring radishes, lettuce mix, fresh herbs, spring onions, ramps if any vendor has them.
Coming in late May: salad turnips, hothouse cucumbers from heated greenhouses, peas if it has been a warm spring, the first strawberries by the very end of the month at the earliest.
Into June: strawberries in volume, rhubarb still going, sugar snap peas, summer squash and zucchini, broccoli, the first tomatoes from heated houses but not yet from the field.
Asparagus runs through mid-June. Rhubarb runs through July. After that, both are gone until next spring. If you make rhubarb pie or freeze asparagus for winter, this six-week window is the one.
Outside of produce, the bakers, maple producers, beekeepers, and meat farmers run year-round. Dairy is more limited. Eggs are typically available from multiple vendors most weeks.
Practical details
- Address: Memorial Park, Albany Street, Cazenovia, NY 13035 (across from Sullivan Street)
- Days: Saturdays only
- Hours: 9 AM to 2 PM
- Season: May 2 through October 24, 2026
- Vendors confirmed: 26 (rotating attendance)
- Sourcing rule: All vendors within 50 miles of Cazenovia, strict
- Manager email: [email protected]
- Manager phone: (315) 216-7753
- Payment: Cash or check (most vendors). Some accept cards individually.
- Parking: Street parking on Albany Street and side streets. Memorial Park is on Route 20.
- Weather: Outdoor market. Operates rain or shine in summer. Heavy weather may reduce vendor count.
The market sits in the middle of the Cazenovia village historic district. The village itself has 2,767 residents per the 2020 census, and the surrounding town of Cazenovia has about 6,740. Memorial Park is the same green that hosts Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and 9/11 observances. It is across Albany Street from Lakeland Park and the southern tip of Cazenovia Lake.
Comparison: where the Cazenovia market fits in CNY
Saturday-morning farmers markets in Central New York with a roughly comparable footprint:
- CNY Regional Market in Syracuse: Year-round, much larger, more vendors, less strict sourcing radius.
- Westcott Farmers Market in Syracuse: Tuesdays, smaller, neighborhood scale.
- Fayetteville Farmers Market: Thursdays, smaller, late-spring through fall.
- Skaneateles Farmers Market: Thursdays, similar size, similar small-village setting.
- Hamilton Farmers Market: Saturdays, smaller, Colgate-area producers.
Of those, Cazenovia and Skaneateles are the closest in feel. Both are small-village Saturday markets with strict producer requirements and a regular weekly customer base. The Cazenovia 50-mile radius is stricter than most of its peers. Skaneateles uses a similar local-only standard.
If you live in Syracuse and you have not been out to Cazenovia for the market, the drive is about 25 miles east on Route 20. It takes about 35 minutes from downtown. The market parking is village street parking and on a busy summer Saturday it fills up fast, so coming before 10 AM is the realistic move.
Meet a few of the people
The market manager is Allison Sullivan-Bernardo, listed on the Cazenovia Chamber site with the [email protected] email and (315) 216-7753 phone. The chamber describes the market as “a community hub showcasing local growers, artisans, and seasonal produce.”
Matt and Maryellen Robinson at Hartwood Farm, 5258 Irish Ridge Road in Chittenango, run the largest produce operation at the market. Their first day at the Memorial Park green this season was opening day Saturday.
Henry Beekley at Plumb Rocky Farm runs the West Winfield operation. The farm sells at the market every Saturday with pickup hours 9 AM to 2 PM. Customers can also pre-order online for market pickup.
David at Bender Hill Maple boils his syrup over wood fires using methods his family has used for five generations on their land in Chittenango. The maple is the kind that you taste once and stop buying grocery-store syrup.
Frosty Morning Farm in Truxton has been at the market for 26 of its 31 years. Owner Marie Sutton started the farm in 1995, the same year the Cazenovia market opened. The farm certified organic with NOFA-NY in 1998 and has held that certification ever since.
Why this matters
A 50-mile radius means your money stays in Madison, Onondaga, Oneida, and Cortland counties. The 26 vendors at the Cazenovia market collectively employ family members, seasonal help, kids on school break, and a handful of farm interns. The dollar you spend on a quart of strawberries in late May goes back into hay for someone’s livestock, seed for next year, or a propane bill.
Markets like this one stay open because people show up. The Cazenovia market has shown up for 31 years.
If you want asparagus, sourdough, eggs, or maple syrup this Saturday, the market is open at 9 AM and closes at 2 PM. Memorial Park, Albany Street, Cazenovia. Bring cash.
The details, verified
1. Market is in its 31st season in 2026 (running 30+ years per chamber site)
2. Opening day was Saturday, May 2, 2026
3. Closing day October 24, 2026
4. Saturdays only, 9 AM to 2 PM
5. Location: Memorial Park, Albany Street, Cazenovia, NY 13035
6. 26 vendors confirmed for 2026 season per chamber list
7. 50-mile sourcing radius rule, strict, applies to every vendor
8. Manager email [email protected]
9. Manager phone (315) 216-7753
10. Payment is cash or check
11. Vendor selection on application basis
12. Brownson Family Farm: founded 1979 by James and Debra Brownson, Kirkville address 8149 Bridgeport Kirkville Road, sells sausage, ground beef, side pork, sweet corn, preserves
13. Frosty Morning Farm: Truxton, certified organic NOFA-NY since 1998, at Cazenovia market since 2000, mixed organic vegetables, herbs, soap, cut flowers
14. Bender Hill Maple: Chittenango, fifth-generation family farm, wood-fired small-batch maple
15. Hartwood Farm: 5258 Irish Ridge Road Chittenango, run by Matt and Maryellen Robinson, vegetables and eggs
16. Plumb Rocky Farm: 11392 Miner Road West Winfield, contact Henry Beekley
17. Chiara’s Bakery: NYS-registered home processor cottage bakery, sourdough and cookies, no preservatives
18. Navarino Orchard: 3655 Cherry Valley Turnpike Syracuse, U-pick strawberries June 13-14 festival 2026
19. Village of Cazenovia population 2,767 per 2020 census; town 6,740
20. Memorial Park is on Albany Street across from Sullivan Street, same green hosts Veterans Day, Memorial Day, 9/11 observances
21. NY State asparagus season early May to mid-June; rhubarb May through July
22. Cazenovia market has run 30+ years per chamber
