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There was a cheesy Chicago song called Saturday in the Park, where they sang:
I think it was the Fourth of July. People dancing, people laughing, a man selling ice cream singing Italian songs. Can you dig it? I’ve been waiting such a long time for Saturday, and another day in the park, people talking, really smiling, a man playing guitar and singing for us all. Can you dig it?
Every Saturday morning, Coconut Grove comes alive like that. There are few places in Miami which have been so utterly consistent in attracting locals and visitors of all stripes over the past (almost) half century than the mostly organic farmers market on Grand Avenue. It seems to have begun in 1977 by Herb Hiller according to a great article by Hank Sanchez-Resnik in the Coconut Grove Spotlight: He found just the right person in Stan Glaser, the owner of Glaser Organic Farms and the story is still going strong.
That’s not all you will find on Saturday in the Grove. You will find Green Street packed as always, Books & Books and Panther keeping busy. You will inevitably find a line at El Bagel.
People are satisfying their sweet tooth at the Salty. Kids will be playing soccer, baseball, basketball, and skateboarding in Peacock Park while come 10 am, young parents are neglecting their children next to Glass & Vine. The Insta hopeful will be snapping selfies at the latest Pura Vida. Closer to the water and Grove Harbour, haves are launching, have nots are watching, and have yachts are lunching by the grave of Scotty’s Landing next to today’s Bayshore Club if they have returned from Bezos’s nuptials in Venice. Dog walkers are everywhere. The Fresh Market is busy. The intrepid are checking out the Barnacle. Near the centerpiece, the market, more cool kids are queued up at Navi for paper and plastic takeout coffee cups because American kids love to walk around with their paper or plastic coffee cups filled with $10 cardamom saffron rose pistachio milk Matcha lattes. On special Saturdays throughout the year, we might see carnivals, art festivals, and Mango Struts. If you’d like to rent a kayak, sit and chill in Cocowalk, or admire the architecture, generally, there is something for everyone on Saturday in the Grove, and we treasure it.
But the pride and joy of Saturday in the Grove remains the farmers market as it has been for generations of residents and visitors. It is both a current gift and a reminder of a Grove proud of its normal weirdness, once tie dyed, now kombucha and gluten free muffins.
There are eternal promises to “develop” the property and destroy the old world order and this discussion is on right now. Let me be clear: to imagine the Grove without the market would be tragic, something 99% of us would desperately miss, and something 1% of us would celebrate because someone got paid.
The absence of cultural memory and heritage are terrible things to lose. That said, in Miami, unfortunately, the Golden Rule is nearly always upside down; those with the gold rule. Therefore, I’d recommend that you enjoy it while you can.
The Coconut Grove Farmers Market, run by Glaser Organic Farms since the early 1980s, is open every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., rain or shine.
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