Financially ‘Vital’: Farmers Market heads indoors, has SNAP contingency (Troy Record)
This story by Erica Bouska was published in the Troy Record on October 31, 2025.
Above: The Record, Oct. 31, 2025, page A1. Below: continued on page A2. Click either page to enlarge.
By Erica Bouska
ebouska@troyrecord.com
TROY, N.Y. — Beginning today, the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market heads indoors for the winter. From November until sometime in May, the market’s plethora of vendors will scatter through the halls of the Atrium from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“Having this scale and robustness of an indoor farmers market is really vital to our winter revenue,” said Farmers Market President and O’Malley’s Oven owner Melanie O’Malley. “There is something to be said for the interaction with customers that we get to have every week at the farmers market, and that is as sustaining as the financial side of things.”
O’Malley and Market Manager Steve Ridler said visitors can expect about the same farmers market as last year. Most of the new additions to the summer market are heading indoors, Ridler said, so there will still be around 100 vendors. Especially in the late fall months, the vegetable farmers will still have plenty of fresh goods, he added.
The makers market will be back as will the one-day-only Holiday Market that takes place during Troy’s Victorian Stroll. Applications for the holiday market are open on the website until Nov. 16.
The Farmers Market has also, for the first time, signed a long-term lease agreement giving them both stability and ability to alter the Atrium. Ridler said Thursday they have torn down a few walls and will continue to make adjustments to give vendors and attendees ease of access.
The three-year lease has renewal options which is a huge mental relief for the market, O’Malley said. With how large the market is, the staff has a lot of day-to-day work. Having the assurance that they will be back lets them improve the environment while abating their annual October anxiety, Ridler and O’Malley said.
The murals added last year will also stay and have held up great through the year. Ridler added that they have continued to work on the indoor heating. While popping in briefly to set up her booth on Wednesday, O’Malley said it was “dare I say, comfortable in there.”
There might be mini construction zones in the coming weeks, but all in the interest of making the market function better inside. The layout will be the same as last year, they said. As usual, no dogs except service dogs are allowed inside.
Parking is also the same. Ridler suggested 5th or 6th Avenue parking as well as the Blitman lot that RPI lets market-goers use and the 5th Street Parking Garage. Do not expect to be able to park right in front of the Atrium.
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Captions
From November until sometime in May, the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market’s plethora of vendors will scatter through the halls of the Atrium from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Photo courtesy of the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market)
Mural by Will Dayer inside the Atrium. (Photo courtesy of the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market)
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Everything is about the same, O’Malley said. They’ll still have the rotating guest vendors and the community tabling. One of the great elements of the indoor market is that vendors can really set up and leave most of their things for the week, she said.
The only large change is, hopefully, only for this week and the first indoor market today. Due to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) being stopped with the government shutdown, the market is pulling from their own funding to help visitors who use SNAP.
Any redeemed tokens will still be accepted, any SNAP cards with balances will still be redeemable for tokens and the market will give up to $50 to any SNAP recipient who needs it. O’Malley and Ridler said they had to do something.
“There’s a lot of different agencies who are all looking at how they can help tackle the situation as it goes forward,” Ridler said, adding that he was talking to other programs and markets.
“It’s the bare minimum. This is utterly unprecedented,” O’Malley said. “We have the ability so we will help.”
It’s similar for the winter market in general. They struggled for some of the more turbulent years with the pandemic, but managed to get through, O’Malley said.
Everyone is in a tight space with finances at the moment, but they are doing what they can. They’ve been able to rebuild, have a more permanent home that could keep them in the Atrium for nine years and they’re able to maintain their financial health.
“The farmers market is a small business but really the farmers market is a bunch of small businesses standing on each other’s shoulders in a trench coat,” she said, referring to a remark she made when they won a small business award from the Chamber of Commerce. “We’re able to now, in this strange time, help our community again.”
Read this story online at the Troy Record.