Late freeze cuts Lewisburg Farmers Market produce and vendor choices

Tables at the Lewisburg Farmers Market have looked thinner this season because the late-April freeze damaged fruit crops across the region and left growers unsure how much they could bring to Lewisburg. At K. Schlegel Fruit Farm in Dalmatia, about 40 percent of the apple crop survived, and the apples and cider now for sale are coming from last year’s harvest.

That kind of damage is rippling straight to shoppers. Market manager Meghann Perez said vendors have not disappeared, but many are waiting before committing to market trips because they do not yet know how much produce will be available. The result is a market that is still busy every Wednesday, but with fewer choices and more uncertainty than usual as growers sort through what made it through the cold snap.

Perry Ross of K. Schlegel Fruit Farm said the freeze wiped out nearly everything except that remaining apple crop, along with a few peaches, plums and pears. For Union County residents looking for peak-season fruit, that means some of the usual summer staples are arriving late or not at all. Perez said the vendors are small businesses that depend on the market for income, so the freeze has made planning much harder and is likely to keep supply tight as farmers assess losses.

The pressure is not limited to fruit stands. Farmhouse Meats in Sunbury said it buys in much of its produce and is already seeing higher prices, a sign that the freeze tightened supplies beyond a single orchard. That leaves shoppers likely to face a narrower selection and, in some cases, higher prices as local growers and buyers compete for a smaller regional crop.

The scale of the damage has reached far beyond Lewisburg. Penn State Extension warned on April 21 that overnight temperatures from April 20 to 21 posed a serious risk to apple, peach and pear crops, and state officials later estimated Pennsylvania’s specialty crop industry could lose between $150 million and $200 million. On May 26, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins signed a disaster designation for 17 Pennsylvania counties hit by below-freezing temperatures from April 19 through April 21.

Even orchards with little or no crop this year still need attention to protect tree health for 2027, according to Penn State Extension, which means the freeze will shape farm decisions long after this market season ends. For Lewisburg, where the county seat serves as a central stop for more than 100 local vendors, the Wednesday market remains a key link between shoppers and the farms trying to recover.