A weekly open-air farmers market launched Friday in Somerville’s Assembly Row with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and speeches, which mayor Jake Wilson accomplished in a suit (befitting his station) and holding a rapidly melting popsicle (in recognition of 84-degree heat).
“I hereby endorse these popsicles,” Wilson said, and, more seriously: “This market is awesome for Assembly Row, good for Somerville and great for the broader regional food economy that brings people together and supports local producers – and helps make this neighborhood an even stronger community destination.”
In a blazingly short speech, Wilson reminded fellow city officials, members of the Federal Realty management team for Assembly Row and shoppers that he grew up on a farm, driving tractors, and “love seeing farms represented here in the most densely populated city in Massachusetts.”
“Assembly Square can seem pretty urban, but behind me there’s now 30 farms waiting to share their bounty with residents, workers and visitors,” including through a Snap match program that doubles customers’ buying power among the stalls, Wilson said.
The market, with offerings of fresh produce, artisanal baked goods, dairy, eggs, frozen fish, locally sourced meats and mushrooms, and specialty goods such as spices and hot sauces, runs 3 to 7 p.m. Fridays through October except for July 3, tucked on Assembly Row between a Shake Shack and Tatte Bakery + Café – part of an expanded seasonal programming calendar that includes yoga sponsored by Mass General Brigham Health Plan, a makers market, the Bar Stars craft cocktails competition July 9 and the annual block party, Riverfest, on Sept. 12.
The market was introduced by David Middleton, vice president and general manager of Assembly Row, and explained further after the ceremony by Haley Suarez, associate director of marketing.
Assembly Row has more than 50 national brands, from Lululemon to Warby Parker, Sweetgreen and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. But surveys of Assembly Row visitors and residents over the past five years showed they wanted a farmers market, Suarez said.
A monthly market was in place briefly in Baxter Park when the development first opened – when it was basically MGB and Lego, with not much in between – but the new market has a much broader community to serve. “We didn’t have the density. We were not the behemoth that we essentially are today,” she said. Assembly has four apartment buildings, 122 condos, a hotel and three office buildings with Monday-through Friday workers, as well as orange line MBTA access.
Setting up a market
Assembly Row managers were ready to act in early 2025 hoped to launch last summer, but found their timeline was wildly optimistic. Market manager William Sell, coming on to provide the needed expertise, recruited from his Framingham market and hit expos and winter markets to find the right mix of sellers. “The interest was almost instantaneous, because Assembly Row is a very well-known place right now and Somerville is a hot market, and people kind of jumped on the opportunity,” Suarez said.
The size and energy shown by Assembly Row in joining more than 265 summer and winter farmers markets statewide “is really a testament,” said Ashley Randle, resources commissioner for the state Department of Agriculture, who spoke at the ribbon cutting.
Farmers markets launch rarely enough that Randle couldn’t think of the last one, but their presence and the programs doubling shoppers’ buying power are essential now. “With what’s happening at the federal level, with cuts to the Snap program, these type of outlets become incredibly important for food access,” Randle said. “To have farms and value-added producers here at the market, it’s a great way for food-insecure individuals to be able to have more direct access to food.”
The Assembly Row market has food as its sole focus. “We don’t have artisans, we don’t have community booths right now, we don’t have all of the extras you usually see at farmer’s markets – we really wanted to make sure that people had access to fresh food,” including local produce from Medway Community Farm and Heaven’s Harvest in New Braintree, Suarez said.
Pad thai mixes in the mix
The market also makes room for specialty sellers from near and far. Some are common sights at farmers markets, such as Brian Ruhlmann’s Craic Sauce, while others are learning the format.
Tal Lachmann was at Assembly Row to represent his wife’s restaurant, Basil Spice Thai Cuisine in Worcester, with the sauces and meal kits for pad thai that it looked to for revenue when the Covid pandemic locked out diners. “That grew into a larger business,” Lachmann said, and now Basil Spice Thai sets up at it dozen markets on alternating weeks – “the kit makes six servings, so you’re not going to want it the next week; we give people a little bit of time to miss us.”
The restaurant signed on at Assembly Row after being recruited by Sell. “Somerville has a reputation for being very affluent, if you will, and people who are interested in trying new things,” Lachmann said. While it was too early to say how well the market would work out, “anything that’s close to Boston from our perspective is an opportunity to expand.”
The restaurant prepays for a number of weeks at the market, and so long as profits outpace the expense of driving in, Basil Spice Thai will be back. Lachmann wasn’t too worried; even on the market’s launch day, foot traffic was good.
Curio seeds a customer base
Managment at Cambridge’s Curio Spice store was looking to return to farmers markets after Covid broke it of the practice. They were at a Sustainable Business Network local food trade show last year and primed to return to farmers markets by friends at Mei Mei Dumplings, when they were approached by Assembly Row organizers. “It was perfect,” said Carmen Nappa, the store’s wholesale manager.
Nappa has to condense a store full of spices to a single table at the market. He chose the most popular “blends that we like to show off,” new spices such as Kathmandu Curry, and 12 pure spices curated for the season. The special-for-June Provincetown Pride made the cut, of course, based on a Portuguese fish stew recipe as might go into a stuffed quahog; 10 percent of money from its sales go back to the Provincetown Business Guild to organize programs in the town.
The Assembly Row market entry fee is low, and a few successful shows will pay off the full season for Curio, Nappa said, while encouraging people to come shop the brick-and-mortar location for everything from a pure spice from Ethiopia to a taco mix.
“We’ll be fine and make some money, but a big piece of our business is education and just letting people know that we exist,” he said. “We just want to make connections with people, and there’s no better place to do that than farmers markets.”
About The Author
