Watermelon Eating Competition @ the Hillcrest Farmers Market!

This weekend at the market we had a watermelon eating competition between participating market patrons! We welcomed guests to sign up at the Info Booth for a little competition every half hour and sliced up approximately 1/4 of a watermelon for each competitor to devour. Whoever did it the fastest won bragging rights. At the end of the day, the winner took home an entire watermelon! A little ironic, but totally fun. We had parents competing against their kids, and kids under 10 against others their age, as well as the most polite competition between the first competitors of the day! Watermelons are at the beginning of their season right now and are available at various vendors throughout the Hillcrest Farmers Market!

Check out all of the competition photos on our flickr photostream, or on our facebook! And check back for all of your market updates here or at hillcrestfarmersmarket.com

Stay fresh & fabulous, we'll see you next weekend!

Cooling off at the Hillcrest Farmers Market

This weekend at the Hillcrest Farmers Market we cooled off with some pretty hand-fans that were decorated by market patrons. We got the idea from another market patron who visited us from Omaha, Nebraska a few months ago. Bill was decorating a fan for his granddaughter using markers and a paper fan that he bought offline, and was creating a Disney princess theme for her. We loved the idea so much we bought 40 of our own fans!

Parents and children alike collaborated on their fans, and we got some beautiful and eclectic designs out of the whole thing. We welcomed new friendly faces, as well as many of our market regulars.

Next week we're welcoming the heat of the summer by throwing a watermelon eating competition. Think you have what it takes? Come sign up at the Info Booth and compete over the course of the day to be the watermelon eating champ!

July 24th we'll be hosting our monthly Visiting Chef Series, followed by an Info Booth Luau on July 31st filled with Hawaiian lei's and a pinata ('cause why not?!)

Check back here as well as hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates. We'll see you next week!

4th of July at the Market

This past Sunday at the Hillcrest Farmers market we celebrated the Fourth of July a little early. We had a gorgeous 3 day weekend laid out for us and plenty of fun planned at the market.

Market patrons came to the Info Booth and we created patriotic pinwheels using paper, crayons and markers, thumbtacks, and wooden bbq skewers. We used an easy template that we found online at kaboose and set to work. Lucky for us, it was a windy day and our pinwheels were spinning like crazy!

Check our website for all of our fabulous market updates: hillcrestfarmersmarket.com and our calendar of upcoming events! In July we'll be decorating Chinese style paper fans, having a watermelon eating competition, and of course, our monthly Visiting Chef Series!

Stay Fresh & Fabulous! We'll see you next week!

Visiting Chef Series - Brazen BBQ

This weekend at the Hillcrest Farmers Market we hosted our monthly Visiting Chef Series with Hillcrest's highly anticipated Brazen BBQ.

Owners John Bracamonte and Chef Brad Thomas joined us at the heart of the market at 1pm this Sunday to give the Hillcrest market goers a taste of their delicious barbecue and tease us for another few weeks before their restaurant opens up it's first location at 441 Washington Street in Hillcrest (the corner of 5th and Washington).

First we started off with herbed polenta cake on top of a roasted red pepper coulis, topped with smoked brisket and crispy fried onions. Drizzled with an ancho garlic bbq sauce. It's as amazing as it sounds.

Next up were the most tender, fall off the bone delicious pork spare ribs with a smokey pomegranate BBQ sauce. Brazen BBQ believes in smoking delicious meats low and slow to ensure the best flavor and bring out the most tender qualities of the meat, and they succeed!

We started our event at 1pm and by 1:15, 5 racks of ribs and 30+ polenta were GONE. We had market patrons coming out of the woodwork to try Brazen's delicious meats, with many looking to purchase racks of ribs right then and there!

Unfortunately, we will have to keep our eyes open for their official Grand Opening date, but luckily it will only be a few weeks. These pit bosses are waiting on a few state restaurant permits and then we'll have an official opening date. They're slated for the end of July, and we want to be first in line!

Check back with us here, and on Facebook and Twitter for more info about Brazen BBQ as well as all of our fabulous updates. Find us at hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for more market updates!

Next week we'll be celebrating July 4th at the market with patriotic arts and crafts, followed by a watermelon eating contest on July 10th!

Can't wait for next week! We'll see you there!

Happy Father's Day from the Hillcrest Farmers Market!

This weekend the Hillcrest Farmers Market celebrated Dad's everywhere! We invited market patrons to the Info Booth to come by and create something for Dad! We had tie making kits with glue and glitter, and all kinds of fun stickers and paper for kids to make a card for a special guy in their life. Of course their were markers and crayons galore and many a father walked away with their smiling child and a thoughtful card. "DAD YOU ROCK" and "I LOVE YOU" were just some of the messages found inside of the Father's Day cards we made this weekend.

Next week we have our monthly Visiting Chef Series with Hillcrest's highly anticipated 'Brazen BBQ' guys at 1pm at the heart of the market, followed by Patriotic Pinwheels on July 3rd, and a Watermel0n Eating Contest on July 10th!

Check out HillcrestFarmersMarket.com for all of your market updates and a full calendar of upcoming events!

Maraca Making Mania at the Hillcrest Farmers Market!

This weekend at the market we made super sweet maracas! Market patrons came by the Info Booth and used all kinds of fun materials to make one of a kind instruments.

We had pirate themed stickers, underwater creatures, and monkeys swinging from branches. We used glue, glitter, markers, crayons, and plenty of ribbon, and then filled our cups with popcorn kernels, beans, and rice before sealing up our cups and waiting for the opportunity to jam out with other market patrons!

Next week we'll be celebrating Father's Day so make sure to bring your day and come by the Info Booth to make something fun!

Also, check back here and on hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates!

Catching rays @ the Market

This Sunday at the Hillcrest Farmers Market we made sun catchers at the Info Booth! It was a beautiful day packed with the usual hustle and bustle that comes with such nice weather. We invited market patrons to come by the Info Booth to make sun catchers with us out of multi-colored beads and clear lanyard.

After a little while the kids took matters into their own hands and started to make necklaces, color, and one little girl started doodling with chalk on the ground. We had a lot of fun and got excited for our upcoming maraca making/musical jam session that we'll have next week!

Check back here and on hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates! Also, next week, Maraca Making, followed by some Father's Day fun & Visiting Chef Series, and ICE CREAM MAKING (can you tell we're excited?) the last weekend of June. See you there!