The number of farmers markets in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the past two decades. For customers, a farmers market is not just a place to buy food — it's a social affair. A festive atmosphere helps to bring people to the markets, where they can talk with farmers about how the produce is grown and how it can be prepared.

Farmers markets play a leading role in making fresh, nutritious food available at affordable prices to people with limited incomes. In this age of new concerns about intentional threats to food safety and security, farmers markets offer a very local and widespread alternative to our nation's increasingly concentrated, and vulnerable, food and grocery distribution system. Because food sold at farmers markets is locally grown and usually sold unprocessed, the food is safer because fewer hands have touched it. And it is fresh, so there are fewer concerns about storage and handling.

So come on down to The Charlestown Market and select your fresh goods to take home today! To the right are a few of the items available.