When Erik Longabardi and his wife moved from Brooklyn to the Village of Roslyn three years ago, they soon realized they were amid a community hungry for a fresh, organic farmers market.
“Roslyn is really interested in food, with all these different restaurants and bakeries, and I think with that interest in food to begin with, they would really respond to having high-quality farmers coming in from all over,” Longabardi said.
So Longabardi, a teacher within the New York City Department of Education, did his homework.
He joined the village’s board of zoning and appeals, met with farmers, butchers and bakers on Long Island and in New York City, and sought a prominent location at the corner of Old Northern Boulevard and East Broadway.
On Saturday, the Roslyn Village Farmers Market officially opened with 10 vendors selling produce, dairy, bread, meats and seafood. It will run each Saturday through Oct. 26.
“I had no previous experience putting this together but I knew what I wanted,” said Longabardi, 34, an East Meadow native. “We wanted to deal with farmers directly and we knew we wanted high-quality produce, meats and seafood so that you could cook a really healthy dinner for Saturday and Sunday and for the rest of the week with those goods.”
The farmers market featured the Amagansett-based Bhumi Farms, selling seasonal produce; the Southampton-based Mecox Bay Dairy, selling raw cheeses; Arlotta Olive Oils, selling extra virgin cold pressed olive oil; the Old Brookville-based Rottkamp Bros. Farms, selling corn and tomatoes; the New York City-based Wandering Bear Cold Brew Coffee Company; the Northport-based Backyard Brine, selling pickles; the Meredith-based Spring Lake Farm, selling grass-fed beef, lamb and pork; the Brooklyn-based the Jam Stand; and the Brooklyn-based Scratch Bread.
Longabardi said Spring Lake Farms and Bhumi sold out of most of their produce, Scratch Bread sold out of its rosemary focaccia bread, and Nordic Bread sold out of its ruis bread.
“Farmers this time of year are traditionally very busy doing not only markets but community-supported agriculture and harvesting, planting, weeding. They’re doing so many different things and it’s been really nice to work with them because they really made it happen for us,” Longabardi said.
“I did what I could, but they made it logistically possible by their being willing to drive out from the East End on a Saturday morning after doing another market the day before and maybe one coming up on Sunday,” he said. “It was a lot of planning to get them to come out here. People we got bent over backwards for us and I’ve really supportive of them and I hope our community can be supportive of them as well.”
