Farmer's Public Market

Just visited this place for the first time over the weekend for the Better Block OKC revival party thing and I loved it! So many wonderful treasures to find but also a lot of room for growth. I look forward to watching the Farmers Market District bloom!

The Oklahoma City Farmers Public Market first opened in 1928. The downstairs was mainly used by farmers who sold fresh produce. Upstairs there were concerts, dances, boxing matches and roller-skating. Now it is only a shell of what it once was, but the owners are trying to get it back to its former glory.

I've been down there for anything from buying local produce, flowers, antiquing or attending events like The Girlie Show, Extreme Midget Wrestling, or roller derby!

As a kid my parents used to take me down there and we would buy fresh roasted salted peanuts (which you can still do) and it was so awesome weaving in and out of all the booths that occupied the 40,000 square foot main building.

Coming up in November is The Girlie Show (Nov 2-3) filled with quirky art, crafts, food, music and more and November 4th there is a more family friendly fall festival.

Maybe it's simply because it is old. Maybe because it is in the same part of town as all the industrial safety supply places. Maybe because they have a big schmancy event like ARTini here one night and an inked-up rockabilly roller derby bout the following night. Maybe because sometimes it reminds me of Cain's Ballroom. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Whatever the reason, I love any excuse to get out to the Farmer's Market. A dressed up event like the Allied Arts fundraiser we recently attended, or a laid back event (with actual farmers) like the Food Co-Op dinner a few months prior to that - it does not matter what kind of event it is, the Market just fits. I'm thankful Urban Agrarian has brought new life to this little district, and I hope more businesses follow suit. Why the farm-to-table thing is just now getting momentum here in OKC, when most of our parents, or at least our grandparents, grew up in an ag-based economy is just beyond me. At least it's happening now.

I love to drive by and see the twinkly globe lights strung throughout the first floor. I love all this antique goodness crumbling sweetly in the shadow of our steel scissortail and our bold new skyscraper. It's the architectural and historical embodiment of what I love about this dear little city. We're like the girl who made it to the big dance, but we've still got our overalls folded neatly in the drawer should we need them (or want them).