As I scooted through alleys looking for a place to park and shop Waynesburg Farmers Market last May, I was on a mission. Spring was here. It was time to visit with old friends, find something homemade and delicious to eat, then grab some exotic plants for my garden, and make a dash for my car. Washington Street was closed to traffic for a block beside the courthouse to accommodate vendors and market shoppers. Harden Family Farm’s big truck and rows of tables filled the corner next to High Street and new market manager Scott Hackenburg had his Pursley Creek Farm canopy pitched beside the courthouse wall. He had what I’d come looking for: exotic peppers and tomatoes of every color and size, along with native perennial wildflowers like columbine. Other vendors were selling their own spring collection of plants, flowers, fresh greens, and baked goods that have earned their own loyal following. A food truck at the end of the block was serving sandwiches to a line of office workers out for lunch. All in all, it was a perfect sunny spring day, the kind of day that makes farmers’ markets such a beloved part of small town living.
Waynesburg’s Wednesday market sells produce and products produced both locally and regionally. Over the years, its location has moved around the block, from the early years on Church Street, then to High Street in front of the courthouse steps, where street parking spaces were staked out by Waynesburg Borough for 15 minute shopping sprees. During Covid, the market moved to Washington Street, as vendors regrouped and tried to carry on. Hackenburg, who grew up in rural Snyder County and studied forestry at Penn State, retired from the Bureau of State Parks in 2021, just as Covid regulations were lifting. He and wife Rhonda decided to relocate to the Pittsburgh area— ”We’re big Steeler and Penguin fans!” —and chose Greene County “because of its location, rural character, and available farmland. Vegetable gardening was a big part of my life. I built my first greenhouse when I was 12 years old and sold vegetable and flower plants.”
The ten-acre farm they bought near Oak Forest soon had a native plant nursery and a vegetable garden started. When Hackenburg came to the market in 2022 to vend and recognized its potential, becoming the market manager was a natural fit.
I don’t shop for homegrown produce in the summer. (Where I live in West Greene, free zucchinis, cukes and tomatoes magically appear in your back seat when you visit friends!) So, when Hackenburg and his intrepid band of market vendors moved last July to Parking Lot #3, beside the Denny House on High Street, I didn’t notice. But when I went shopping in October, ready to grab enough sweet peppers and tomatillos to tide me through Thanksgiving feasts and winter salsas, I was delighted to find the market taking up a corner of Parking Lot #3 and pulled right in. It was like a family reunion. Gardens were being stripped, and the canners were out in force, getting the last of the produce stripped from the vine before winter. I found my crate of spectacularly colored peppers that begged to be stuffed and baked for Halloween and said, “Wow Scott! They’re perfect!”
As Hackenburg helped me load boxes of produce into my Forester, he grinned. “I think we’ll be back here next year.”
On April 5, Hackenburg posted the good news we’ve been waiting for on the Waynesburg Farmers Market Facebook page.
“The Borough Council has just approved the Market for another season!” at Parking Lot #3, “every Wednesday, 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. from May 15 to October 16.”
And hey! If you want to try your hand, and heart, at marketing, the first one’s free to new vendors.
“It’s $6 to set up for the day and some people might want to try it one time to see how they do,” Hackenburg said when I called. This early in the season, growers are busy getting their crops in the ground between rainstorms, and applications are still coming in, he added. “I won’t know yet who all’s going to be here on opening day, but I know that we’re in a better location. We were having issues with parking and public safety when we were on Washington Street. Now the street doesn’t have to be blocked and parking signs don’t have to be put up. Now we have room to grow.”
As this story was going to press, Hackenburg texted me the vendors that have gotten back to him so far: Bliss Hollow Farms, Dyers Forks Farm, Harden Family Farm, Juliet’s Empanadas, Plum Run Winery, Pursley Creek Farm, Sue’s Bakery, What’s Smokin’ BBQ.
Stay tuned. As opening day gets closer, more vendors will report in on the market’s Facebook page.
And yes, the recipe for dandelion dressing that Hackenburg has posted there is delicious with or without bacon crumbles.
For more information about becoming a vendor, go online: waynesburgfarmersmarket@waynesburg.edu
