West Palm's GreenMarket closes its biggest season yet to high marks, large crowds

West Palm Beach’s GreenMarket ended its 29th season Saturday with sunny skies and overflowing crowds, capping off what organizers called its biggest season yet.

Palm Beach County’s most popular green market opened in October with the slogan “Here we grow again.”

It boasted its largest-ever set of vendors — 125 — in a footprint that now stretches around the Great Lawn at the foot of Clematis Street and west to the corner of Clematis and Olive Avenue.

Mary Pinak, West Palm Beach’s community events manager, estimated the event drew between 7,000 and 10,000 people each Saturday. The crowded walkways Saturday around the market’s kiosks — which sold everything from cider doughnuts and polish sausage to empanadas and handmade soap — suggested that an onset of summery weather did little to dispel the crowds.

“Look how busy it is,” Pinak remarked. “It’s April and it’s almost 90 degrees.”

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GreenMarket likely will bring some vendors to Clematis By Night summer events

The GreenMarket experimented last summer with inviting some vendors out on Thursday evenings to the city’s Clematis By Night events. Pinak said organizers will likely do the same this summer, but with a narrower selection of vendors, chiefly kiosks selling coffee and other beverages.

Organizers also experimented this year with workshops on the Great Lawn, where for a fee people could attend classes on subjects like building a butterfly garden or arranging a charcuterie board.

Those events proved successful, Pinak said, as did the inclusion of live music, a master chef competition and a dog fashion show that led to the adoptions of more than a dozen canines. A priority next season will be adding more such events, broadening the range of experiences for attendees.

The strong crowds and consistent weather — few Saturday events this year were affected by heavy rain — meant brisk business for vendors.

Lolita Jackson, owner of Lo’s Pie Shop, wrapped up her first season at the market Saturday with high praise.

“It’s been very strong, very consistent,” she said of sales of her specialty mini pies. Jackson sold at Palm Beach Gardens’ green market last season but said she made the move to West Palm Beach’s for its larger clientele.

This year, she said, her sales are up, and she was surprised to see different pies become her most popular. In Palm Beach Gardens, key lime pies were one of her top sellers, she said. But in West Palm Beach, pecan pies and sweet potato pies were far more popular.

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GreenMarket customers like way West Palm has expanded its offerings

For Sue and Bob Simmons, the last day of the GreenMarket spelled the end of a weekend routine. The Riviera Beach couple alternate their weekends between the markets in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.

Enjoying a midday meal of crepes and empanadas, they remarked on how much the market has grown in recent years.

But as vendors increased, the market’s footprint has expanded, preventing it from feeling overly crowded, Bob said.

Sue, who enjoys the market's growing selection of prepared foods, produce and plants, said for the most part bigger has meant better.

“It’s getting bigger every year,” she said. “There’s more stuff. You have more to choose from.”

The GreenMarket has won the USA TODAY 10 Best Readers' Choice award for best farmers market in the nation three years in a row. It is one of 20 nominees for the distinction again this year, with the winner scheduled to be announced Wednesday.

The market is scheduled to reopen for its 30th season Saturday, Oct. 5.

Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm Beach GreenMarket closes with big crowds, resumes in October