Huntington Beach Farmers Market

Surf City Block Party on Main Street

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to the following copyrighted material. For permission to reprint or excerpt it and/or link it to another website, contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com

When they hold a Farmers Market on Main Street in Huntington Beach you know it’s going to be something special.

Corner of PCH and Main St.

On Tuesdays they close off the street and it becomes one big party with everyone picking out fresh produce and flowers, sampling the vendors’ wares, and trying on clothing and jewelry.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel couldn’t wait to taste the just-picked strawberries overflowing out of the boxes.

Every kind of produce imaginable was on display…oranges and apples, tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce…all the ingredients of a super salad.

Baba Food was showcasing its Mediterranean dips, natural hummus, salsas, pita breads and chips. David kept giving us samples to try. The chipotle dip was spicy and irresistible and so was the avocado and tabouli.

Nearby Scotty B’s Hot Sauce was advertising all its flavors – “from mild to wild.” Scotty himself was in the booth eager to show off the trophy for his award-winning gourmet hot sauces.

Not to be outdone, Alex’s Fruits and Nuts had lots of healthy snacks – and Juan wanted us to try all of them!

When you go to the Farmers Market make sure to pace yourself…and leave room for the baked goods and desserts.

Planet Cookies was in a prime location and, like its sign said, it had “Cookies the size of a planet”…double chocolate chip, snicker doodles, and cakes, too.

SurfWriter Girl Patti had to pull Sunny away from the booth even as Daniel was trying to tempt us with more.

Ann’s Bakery had two booths – one with a delectable selection of preservative free breads, coffee cakes and cookies and another with hot tamales steaming in the pot. Erik, whose family has run the business since 1967, talked to us about his plans to expand it.

For a taste of Italy, Dolce Monachelli’s was just a step away on Main Street with an array of mini-bundt cakes to die for – amaretto del orso, coconut apricot brandy, pumpkin spice, lemon citrus, and more. And Preston kept the flavors coming.

And what street fair would be complete without mini-donuts and funnel cake? 

Avila’s El Ranchito was at the Farmer’s Market, too. It opened a mini-version of its well known Orange County restaurant. Customers were lining up to order their favorite Mexican specialties.

For a change of pace SurfWriter Girls stopped at the Pickle Your Fancy booth to sample water melon rinds made from a family recipe. Luis, who was manning the booth, said it’s a Midwest specialty that he hopes to get into local stores. He told us the watermelon rinds are really healthy. They’re packed with vitamins A and B6 and amino acids.

Once you’re on Main Street you’ll quickly see that there’s a lot more than things to eat. The fresh flower stands were beautiful…and had these show-stopping orchids.

There were lots of stands selling T-shirts, clothing and accessories. We saw jewelry, artworks, and toys. If you wanted to you could even get a henna tattoo.  

 

There was even a stand selling belly dance belts and rings.

The Objex Sports booth had a unique product that was perfect for Huntington Beach – sports bras...with a secret pocket. To put your money, cell phone, car keys...or even a canister of mace. Wicki Barszcz, the owner designer, created them for the woman on the go.

By the time SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti had seen everything and eaten all the free samples we had done a lot of walking.

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So, when you go to the Huntington Beach Farmer’s Market be sure to wear comfortable shoes. Or rent a bike from the HB Bicycle Company…and pedal off the pounds.

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