Mill City Farmers Market ends tomorrow with Fall Harvest

Mill City Farmers Market

Get your market produce while you can; soon this place will be a tundra.

​Sure, Minnesotans are a hearty people. Our local produce? Not as much. Yes, there are tough crops that persevere deep into fall, thriving despite a brisk evening or an early frost. But sooner or later everything will be consumed by the snow and cold, and no matter how hard we try we'll be enveloped by conditions not suitable for life. But let's not think about that. Instead, let's focus on what we have left. Tomorrow the Mill City Farmers Market celebrates the fall harvest and its close for the year with events and food that will surely prepare you for the inevitable long, hard freeze. And if forecasts are right, it should be beautiful out.

Aaron Reser, the manager of the market, expects to see people out in full force for the festival, stocking up on fall produce while they still can. Because of the nice weather, almost all of the market's produce vendors are still in, which is rare for the last market of the year. Reser says to expect fall staples like squash and apples, plus all the regular prepared items and meats and cheeses you usually find at the market.

Tomorrow's market also features a book signing with Stewart Woodman, the much-loved chef and owner of the soon-to-be-resurrected restaurant Heidi's. His book, Shefzilla: Conquering Haute Cuisine at Home, was released this month. The market will also feature several kid-friendly activities, such as pumpkin painting and a mini farm, which is essentially an urban day-trip for farm life. The market's organizers expect upward of 5,000 people to attend.