The Allentown Farmers Market is moving to High Street with new leadership and more room to grow.
Katrina Carroll of D’Amico Farms, a fourth-generation family vegetable farm on Provinceline Road in Upper Freehold Township, and Gabrielle “Gaby” Rosenblum of CentralGab, a marketing and event planning firm in the Hamilton-Robbinsville area, have joined forces to relaunch the market.
The farmers market, previously located at Pete Sensi Park on South Main Street by the Mill Pond, will now be held in the elementary school parking lot across from Allentown Presbyterian Church twice monthly throughout the summer season.
Early community response has been strong.
The original Allentown Farmers Market started just over three years ago. It was organized and run by the Swal family, the previous owners of Allentown’s ice cream shop, Swal Dairy Ice Cream, which is now Heavenly Havens Ice Cream on Main Street.
The Swals, a longtime Allentown merchant family, own the building that housed the old Allentown Hardware Store and is now Bruno’s Bicycle Shop and One Sweet Ride Candy Shop, among other buildings and businesses in town.
The market’s new location on High Street gives Carroll and Rosenblum an opportunity to spread the increased number and diversity of vendors over a larger area with room to grow, according to Rosenblum.
She said she saw strong potential in Allentown and Upper Freehold after the Hamilton Farmers Market venue ended. She said vendors she had worked with, local business connections and Allentown Councilman Dan Payson helped her see the borough as both a commercial opportunity and a safe, family-oriented event space.
“Being in Allentown is very exciting,” Rosenblum said.
She added that Allentown Presbyterian Church was inviting and cooperative, with church leaders primarily interested in collecting material goods and food for their charity work.
“I immediately thought, ‘this is the right community with an established small Farmers Market, a group of really great brick and mortar Main Street businesses, and a wonderfully cooperative and enthusiastic Mayor, governing body, and Borough Administrator,’” Rosenblum said.
Carroll was the key element, she said, in making the decision to fully buy in to the much-expanded Allentown Farmers Market.
“Katrina and her family are the real deal,” Rosenblum said.
She said the D’Amico family are long-established Upper Freehold farmers with a multigenerational wholesale produce farm. The family also had been the primary produce provider for the Swal family’s original farm market in Sensi Park.
Carroll and Rosenblum said the larger, twice-monthly, family-friendly farmers market had to be handled like an event that draws people from across the region into town, rather than simply a collection of vendors.
The hard-working pair said Allentown, known for many years as a sleepy, historical hamlet with more cozy coffee houses, antique stores and knick-knack shops dominating its downtown than entertainment venues, could benefit from a thriving, ever-changing summertime market.
Allentown already has several established businesses that help draw visitors downtown.
The Old Mill, owned and operated by Corky and Kris Danch and their family and seen by many as the heart of the borough, features The Moth Coffee House, Spider’s Cafe, a spot currently being developed for evening entertainment and private get-togethers, as well as unusual bespoke shops inside and out, like the designer clothing boutique Dawne, Sea Ginger and a yoga venue, The Movement.
That being said, the charming but quiet village is hardly known as a getaway location. Town officials have said a thriving, diverse farmers market featuring locally grown fresh produce, food trucks, a wide variety of handcrafted goods and a safe play area for children might help people from throughout the region and well beyond see the town in a more inviting and interesting light.
Mayor Thomas Fritts said the market can help unite culture, commerce and conservation while boosting local tourism and bringing foot traffic to established small businesses and vendors.
“Perhaps most importantly, every purchase made here supports our ongoing mission to protect and encourage local farms and open spaces from overdevelopment, and industrial encroachment, sustaining our rich agricultural and historical heritage and keeping Allentown green for generations to come,” Fritts said.
A South Main Street resident who asked not to be named compared the potential impact to the Allentown Lions Club Beer Garden during the Allentown Fall Festival, when downtown businesses see more customers.
“For a few days in the fall we turn into a hopping little city,” the resident said. “People come here for one thing — like a parade or a craft beer garden — and then realize that Allentown is walkable. They wander around and explore the town.”
In previous years, when the market was held in the Sensi Park lot on South Main Street, some residents complained that the market was too small and the vendors too repetitive.
Still others wondered, sometimes quite vocally, if the market wasn’t just additional competition for downtown businesses already starved for foot traffic.
But town officials push back on that notion, saying many businesses, if their doors are open, would see a significant spike in curious, paying customers.
In fact, with the many new infrastructure improvements and beautification efforts, including the massive sidewalk and street repairs that have happened in recent years, the mayor and others argue that Allentown is more walkable, more inviting and more business-friendly than ever.
“I strongly suggest that people come out and see for themselves,” Fritts said. “Our Historic Village is on the rise in terms of walkability, significant community involvement, a great elected team, and Administrator, and a downtown full of one-of-a-kind small businesses and boutiques.”
Carroll, of D’Amico Farms, said what many people don’t understand is what it takes to bring fresh produce to market.
“My Uncle Alfonso has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer,” she said. “He runs the D’Amico Farm. To get our best produce to a Farmers Market — even one just up the road, requires a full family effort.”
Carroll said the cold winter and chilly spring delayed planting for many area farmers. She said it takes two teams of workers, as well as time and resources, to keep the wholesale farm running while also bringing goods to market.
“We’re lucky enough now to have two teams working hard to keep our wholesale farm running while the other team of family members runs our D’Amico Fresh Produce stand at the market, twice a month,” Carroll said.
She said her work with the market is connected to both the family farm and the broader Allentown community.
D’Amico Farms is a fourth-generation family vegetable farm rooted in Allentown. For decades, the family has cared for 50 acres, growing fresh, seasonal vegetables and preserving the agricultural traditions that have shaped the farm.
Its on-site farm stand offers produce harvested at peak freshness throughout the growing season.
“What inspires me most is the chance to honor what my family has created and ensure it continues to thrive for years ahead,” Carroll said.
Rosenblum has built a career around content creation, event production, fitness, wellness experiences, pop-up events and community activations designed to support small businesses and bring people together.
Carroll and Rosenblum said the grand opening of the farmers market on May 16, featuring a ribbon cutting attended by the mayor and many Borough Council members, along with a large crowd of shoppers, was a smashing success.
The Allentown Farmers Market will be open twice a month through September from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Market dates are June 13 and 27, July 11 and 25, Aug. 8 and 22, and Sept. 12 and 26.
For questions or to find out how to become a vendor, email Gaby and Katrina at allentownfarmersmarketnj@gmail.com.
Shoppers can visit D’Amico Farms on Facebook or in person at its farmstand at 632 Provinceline Road, Upper Freehold. The farmstand is open every day.
A full, updated list of vendors, which changes from one month to the next, is highlighted on CentralGab’s Facebook page.
