Boston Public Market Launches Free Guided Market Tours
Market Guests Can Meet the Maker and Explore Boston’s Local Food Marketplace
BOSTON — The Boston Public Market is now offering free guided public tours of the city’s local food marketplace, where guests can explore the Market, learn fun facts and tips, and meet the makers who grow, catch, brew, raise, cultivate, bake, ferment, cook and harvest their food.
“As a new civic gathering space for the people of Boston, our goal is to connect with local residents and visitors, and Market tours will allow us to teach our community about the Market and the delicious, fresh, local food you can find here,” said Cheryl Cronin, CEO of the Boston Public Market. “We’re excited to introduce the people of Boston to our exceptional vendors and share the story of the food we eat.”
The 1-hour tours, which began on May 4, will change with the seasons and focus on what is fresh and exciting about the Market each day. Specific tour topics include shopping with kids, the Market as a regional food hub, shopping for a dinner party, seasonal agriculture, and feeding a family, as well as customized topics for specific dates and groups.
Guests can email tours@bostonpublicmarket.org to sign up on a first come, first served basis. Tours can accommodate between 5 and 20 people, and are currently offered Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. For more information, visit bostonpublicmarket.org/about#tours.
“The vendors at the Market are experts on where your food came from, how it was made, how far it traveled, who picked it, how it should be prepared, and what pairs well with it,” said Tiffani Emig, Director of Market Operations at the Boston Public Market. “It’s exciting to help share their knowledge and the story of the Boston Public Market with our neighbors and visitors.”
The Boston Public Market also offers field trips for local school classes, where students can meet the farmers, fishers, and food producers and learn how food goes from the farm to their plate.
The Boston Public Market was developed and is operated by the non-profit Boston Public Market Association, which provide tours free of charge to the community and welcomes donations to support the tour program. The Boston Public Market recently announced that it will be open 7 days a week, starting July 18.
ABOUT THE BOSTON PUBLIC MARKET:
The Boston Public Market is an indoor, year round marketplace for locally sourced groceries and specialty agricultural products, where residents and visitors can find fresh, seasonal food from Massachusetts and New England. The Market houses 39 local farmers, fishers, and food entrepreneurs selling items such as farm fresh produce; meat and poultry; eggs; milk and cheese; fish and shellfish; bread and baked goods; beverages; flowers; and an assortment of specialty and prepared foods. Everything sold at the Market is produced or originates in New England. The Boston Public Market, located at 100 Hanover Street above the Haymarket MBTA station, is currently open Wednesday — Sunday, 8 a.m. — 8 p.m, year-round. Beginning July 18, the Market’s opening hours will be 8 a.m. — 8 p.m. Monday — Saturday and 10 a.m. — 8 p.m. on Sundays.
The Boston Public Market is located in downtown Boston’s emerging Market District, next to the Haymarket pushcart vendors and the historic Blackstone Block, and it sits on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Freedom Trail. 100 Hanover Street also contains the Boston RMV branch, entrances to the Haymarket MBTA station, and a parking garage. Bike parking is located directly outside the Market on the plaza opposite the Greenway. Two Hubway bike share stations are located nearby, on Cross Street across the Greenway and on Congress Street along the side of City Hall.
Boston Public Market vendors are proud to accept SNAP/EBT for all eligible market products, and the Market is a participant in the City of Boston’s Boston Bounty Bucks program, which provides a dollar for dollar match, up to $10 a day, for SNAP customers to spend at participating farmers markets and the Boston Public Market.
The Market is a dynamic civic space, educating the public about food sources, nutrition, and preparation. In addition to 39 permanent vendors and a number of rotating short-term “pop-up” vendors, the Boston Public Market includes the KITCHEN, a 3,200 square foot demonstration kitchen programmed by The Trustees, the Market’s programming partner, with opportunities such as hands-on cooking demos, lectures, family activities, exercise classes, training and community events.
Development of the Boston Public Market was a partnership between the not-for-profit Boston Public Market Association, individual and corporate donors, foundations, the City of Boston, and the project’s seed funder, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Boston Public Market Association developed and operates the Boston Public Market with a public impact mission to support the farmers, fishers, and food entrepreneurs who grow, catch and produce local food, and to nourish our community with food and experiences.
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For more information, visit bostonpublicmarket.org, Facebook (Facebook.com/BostonPublicMarket), Twitter (@BosPublicMarket), and Instagram (@BostonPublicMarket). Follow activity at the Market by using #bostonpublicmarket.