September Free Events at the Boston Public Market

New Indoor, Year-Round Public Market to Host Food, Music and Children’s Community Events

BOSTON — Bostonians can look forward to welcoming the fall – and all of the seasonal New England food that comes with it – at several free community events during September at the new Boston Public Market, which opened its doors on July 30th. 

“The Market is a community hub, offering the opportunity to discover new foods, to meet the people who grew or produced them, and to learn more about where they are from and how to prepare them,” said Boston Public Market CEO Liz Morningstar. “We’re excited to host fun, free events for residents, families and visitors throughout the fall harvest, arguably New England’s most beautiful season of all.”

Events in September include:

Harvest Picnic on the Rose Kennedy Greenway (Sunday, 9/13, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.)

Join us for a harvest picnic to welcome the fall foods of New England. Shop the indoor Market for picnic-friendly specials and bring them out to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, just outside the Market, where you’ll find picnic blankets, games, music and more. 

Sampling Night at the Market (Thursday, 9/17, 5-7 p.m.)

New guests and Market regulars will have a special opportunity to explore the Market and taste the bounty of New England as they enjoy free samples, shop, and meet the Market’s farmers, fishermen, and food purveyors to learn about their offerings.

An Apple a Day… (Friday, 9/18, all day)

Each K-12 student who visits the Market will receive an apple from one of our farms in honor of the new season and our mission to provide fresh, healthy food and nutritional education. Local farmers will be on hand to talk about New England apples, and Red Apple Farm will showcase their antique apple cider press. Additional details on apple-related programing to follow.

New England Aquarium Tide Pool Touch Tank (Wednesday, 9/23, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.)

Children and adults will have the chance to meet and pet horseshoe crabs, stingrays, and lobsters when the New England Aquarium’s Tide Pool Touch Tank visits the Market’s Kid’s Nook space. Aquarium educators, as well as the Market’s in-house seafood experts, Red’s Best, will be available to answer any questions about sea life. 

Live Music Night at the Market (Thursday, 9/24, 5-7:30 p.m.)

Live tunes from a local Berklee College of Music band will let customers make an evening out of their shopping experience at the Market.

One City One Story

At our Cookbook Library from 9/8 through 10/23, readers can pick up a free copy of Jennifer De Leon’s “Home Movie,” the 2015 One City One Story selection. One City One Story is an annual initiative that distributes a short story throughout the city, free of charge, to spread the joy of reading for pleasure among the teens and adults of Boston, and to create a community around a shared reading experience. Readers are invited to participate in book discussion groups around the city after completing the story.

Events at the KITCHEN

Throughout the year, the KITCHEN at the Boston Public Market, programmed by The Trustees, offers hundreds of free and fee-based events, such as hands-on cooking demos, lectures, family activities, and exercise classes with over 40 partners, including Project Bread, Let’s Talk About Food and the Boston Children’s Museum. To view the schedule and sign up for classes, visit bostonpublicmarket.org/kitchen. Free classes in September include:

  • REI Hosts: Thursday Morning Run Club starting at the Trustees’ Kitchen (Thursdays, 8 a.m.)

Tired of running by yourself? Come out with REI Run Club, and we will help you get going! We provide a fun, motivational, and social learning environment to help you improve your running. The Run Club is open to participants of all running abilities and will maintain a 10:00-11:00 minute per mile pace for the average runner. Group runs are approximately 3 miles, and we provide instruction throughout to help you gain efficiency, improve your gait, and become a better runner! 

  • Taste of the Season Presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Thursdays, 9-11 a.m.)

Join us in the Kitchen for our weekly seasonal tastings sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. We are featuring seasonal produce or products from the market. Producers, chefs and experts are on hand to inform and enlighten you about how the food is grown, processed and distributed, as well as providing tips for storage and production. This includes learning about varieties of seasonal products sold at the Market such as apples, berries, peaches, tomatoes, edible flowers and more.   

  • Trustees and Project Bread Present: Fresh Fast & Delicious for Less (Thursdays, 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. & 1-1:45 p.m.)

Project Bread Chef Vanessa Labranche leads this free cooking demonstration to teach market patrons how to prepare healthy meals on a budget. Each week, Chef Vanessa introduces new recipes that feature fresh, healthy foods that can be purchased at the market. Enjoy simple, tasty recipes that do not require a lot of time, skill, or money to prepare.

  • Boston Children’s Museum presents What’s in the Kitchen: Food Senses (Wednesday, 9/9, 10-11:30 a.m. & 1-2:30 p.m.)

Boston Children’s Museum, in partnership with the Boston Public Market and The Trustees, present What’s in the Kitchen: Food Senses. This unique workshop focuses on younger kids and experiments with the senses. While doing a simple, everyday task such as ripping greens for a salad, young children can feel the texture of soft romaine lettuce and compare it with stiffer iceberg lettuce, hear the crunch of the leaves as they tear, see the varieties of color from deep to pale shades of green, red, and purple, and inhale the aroma and taste the fresh leaves. Participants can experiment mixing foods of different colors and shapes, a skill that encourages children to taste new foods and can lead to healthy life-long eating habits. Children will practice important early learning fine motor skills such as picking up small objects, and parents will see how to include young children in everyday cooking. For families with children ages 1 to 3. Note that this class is $5/family.

  • Brown Bag Lunch with Let’s Talk About Food (Friday, 9/11, 12-1:30 p.m.)

Join Let’s Talk about Food for a lunchtime discussion about the food systems. Special Guests Catherine D’Amato, President of the Greater Boston Food Bank, and Rev. Patrick Ward of Trinity Church Boston. Few Americans eat within just one culinary tradition and our appetite for a variety of ethnic cuisines mirrors how we construct our complex identities and then express them through how we eat. On this anniversary of 9/11, we explore the power of food to bring community together. We’ll discuss how food unites us in times of celebration, provides necessary nourishment to our neighbors in need, and also heals by connecting cultures across a community through shared meals.

ABOUT THE BOSTON PUBLIC MARKET: 

The Boston Public Market, which opened July 30th, is the only all-local, indoor, year-round market in the United States. The Market houses 37 local farmers, fishermen, and food purveyors selling items such as farm fresh produce; meat and poultry; eggs; milk and cheese; fish and shellfish; bread and baked goods; 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 open Wednesday — Sunday, 8 a.m. — 8 p.m, year-round.

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. Two Hubway bike share stations are located nearby, and on-site bike parking is being installed fall 2015.

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 civic resource, educating the public about food sources, nutrition, and preparation. In addition to 37 vendor stalls, the Boston Public Market includes the KITCHEN, a 3,200 square foot demonstration kitchen programmed by The Trustees of Reservations, the Market’s programming partner, with opportunities such as hands-on cooking demos, lectures, family activities, exercise classes, training and community events.

Construction 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 not-for-profit Boston Public Market Association operates the Market without any public funds, showcasing a variety of local food purveyors and helping them connect the farm to the city.

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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.