By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – It was a breezy, yet sunny day for the opening of the Margate Community Farmers Market, which will be held 8:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday mornings throughout the summer at Steve & Cookies By the Bay at the corner of Amherst and Monroe avenues.
Back weekly are the mainstay vendors offering Jersey Fresh produce, hand-crafted food items, baked goods and homemade pasta and cheese. Along with baked goods from Cookie Till’s Ventnor 7311 small batch bakery, are vegan baked goods from Kizbee’s Kitchen, Goji’s freshly made juices and smoothies, Pickle Girl pickles, hand-decorated cookies from All That Batters, olive oil from the Golden Greek, Kosher challah and knishes from the Ventnor Shul, and fresh made pastas and sauces from The Red Room Café in Ventnor. On Thursday morning, restauranteur Maria Gatta was rolling out pillow fluffed gnocchi.
Area farms participating again this year are Brookeberry Farms, Triple C. Angus, Mento’s Blueberry Farm, Potato Homestead organics, Wm. Schober Sons orchard, Reed’s Farm and Animal Sanctuary and more.
Although he didn’t vend at the market last year, Mark Stover of Orland in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was back selling his Bracken’s Brown Beauty Southern magnolia trees, just waiting to be planted in the perfect sunny location.
Stover said he started propagating the trees from a 35-foot-tall magnolia that’s been growing on his property since he planted it in 1996.
“I started selling them as trees for Christmas and it turned into a retirement hobby,” he said.
Stover explained how he takes the seed pods from the tree, soaks them in water until they root and then plants them in pots. The ones he had for sale, ranging from $20-40, were three to four years old, he said.
“They were in my yard totally covered with snow and ice during the winter. Look at them now,” he said, noting that although they may have a few leaves turn brown and drop, they are considered evergreen and make beautiful and fragrant white flowers through the summer.
A family sat under the canopy enjoying some of Tony Baloney’s delicious pizza for breakfast. Proprietor Michael Hauck said his newfound business partner, entrepreneur Lori Grenier of Shark Tank fame, is pleased with the success of his ancillary business, Mad Mutz fresh frozen mozzarella sticks, which are now available in frozen food sections at all ShopRite stores. Hauck produces 60,000 mozzarella sticks a day in his Atlantic City Mad Mutz laboratory, but his mozzarella balls, some smoked and others flavored with herbs, along with pizzas made in Tony Baloney’s food truck, are a mainstay at local farmers markets and community events.
Most of the items found at Margate’s market are locally sourced and produced.
One that provides a not to be missed opportunity to enjoy the wines produced in South Jersey’s Outer Coastal Plain wine growing region is the selection of wines from Ocean City Winery. The winery grows its own grapes in two locations – Fairfield, Cumberland County and in Beesley’s Point in Upper Township. The wines, both red and white, are clean, crisp and offer the unique flavors only available in the 2-million acre viticultural region near the Atlantic Ocean that is similar to the Bordeaux region of France.
The winery was there as a “pop-up” vendor, along with J Diamond Ceramics, Spotted Horse Provisions, Candace’s Canvases, and Greene House Botanicals.
Check the Margate Community Farmers Market Facebook page for the announcement of other weekly pop-ups and activities being offered throughout the season.
Copyright N.Lo Communication, LLC 2026
Enjoy some more photos from the market.
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