Mount Vernon to launch weekly farmers market amid grocery gap

Mount Vernon residents will soon get a weekly place to buy fresh produce, baked goods and other staples a short walk from the neighborhood’s senior center. The Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association and Midtown Baltimore are launching the Mount Vernon Farmers Market on June 25, with the market set to run every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 100 W. Eager Street next to the Waxter Senior Center.

The market is being framed as a practical answer to a long-running grocery gap. Eddie’s of Mount Vernon closed on June 30, 2023, leaving the neighborhood without its only grocery store and forcing residents to look elsewhere for everyday food shopping. The store’s building at 7-11 W. Eager St. had housed a grocery store since 1939, making the loss especially significant in a dense community where many people walk for routine errands.

Organizers say the new market is meant to help neighbors buy fresh produce and other products that have been harder to find since Eddie’s closed. The market will be free and open to the public, a detail that matters in a neighborhood-service context where cost and access can determine whether residents use a resource regularly. Its Thursday evening hours also give it a different role from a one-off event: it is meant to become a regular stop for household shopping and foot traffic in the heart of Mount Vernon.

The vendor mix will include local farmers and sellers offering fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, baked goods and other goods. Listed vendors include Communitas Farm, Toads Wild Ride, Dmitri Olive Oil, Dear Globe and Panzinos Rolls, and organizers say the lineup may change from week to week. The market is also looking for volunteers to help with setup, promotion and outreach, suggesting the launch is meant to build a steady neighborhood operation rather than a temporary attraction.

The move comes as the community continues to look for a full-service grocery solution. In 2024, Maryland allocated $286,000 to help a new operator reopen Eddie’s, and the Baltimore City Liquor Board approved the transfer of a rare Class A liquor license tied to the property. But a later report said the long-planned reopening is no longer moving forward, and the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association is again searching for a new operator.

Midtown Baltimore, which says it is a 144-block community benefits district authorized by law in 1996, includes Mount Vernon, Bolton Hill, Charles North and Madison Park. In that broader service area, the farmers market fits a familiar Baltimore pattern: using neighborhood institutions to patch a concrete daily need while longer-term retail solutions remain unsettled.