Vendors, crowd of hundreds closes farmers market season in Lower Burrell

For Victoria Krzywda, the Lower Burrell Farmers Market comes down to the hot sauce.

On Saturday, the Leechburg resident perused 3 Shiba Farm’s myriad Mason jars and glass bottles of freshly brined pickles, peppers and relishes — not to mention the spiciest hot sauce Krzywda could find: the Arnold business’ blueberry scorpion pepper sauce.

“Everybody in my family loves hot sauce — they put it on everything,” said Krzywda, 47, after buying two bottles of the spicy stuff.

“The stores have all the generic sauce, the stuff you can get anywhere,” she said. “There’s things you find here that you don’t find anywhere else. And I like small business. Things like this help the farmers.”

Krzywda was far from the only one this weekend who filled bags with fresh produce, farm-raised meats or seasonal fare.

More than 60 vendors drew a crowd of hundreds to the Bon Air Elementary School parking lot Saturday to pick up hyper-local goods at the market’s annual fall festival, which also marked the close of its 2024 season. The 2025 season will start around Memorial Day.

Farmers markets are no small operation.

At 113,000 farmers markets nationwide, only Californians spend more than shoppers do in Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Farmers markets in the Keystone State generated $600 million in direct-to-consumer sales in 2022 — nearly 20% of all the money spent nationwide.

It’s not just big business, though, in the Alle-Kiski Valley. Markets like Lower Burrell’s help cater to smaller businesses or farmers just getting on their feet, said Pam Key and Carley Logan, who coordinate the weekend event.

It costs vendors just $50 a year to peddle food and wares in Lower Burrell, said Key, 67, of Lower Burrell. Tabling at special events, such as Saturday’s fall festival, cost a one-time fee of just $25.

By comparison, it costs $250 in Cranberry Township.

“Carley and I are just two citizens of the community who want to grow our community and highlight our local businesses and our small businesses,” she added. “And we try to do that through the market.”

That $50 fee helps keep Mark Resetar’s overhead costs low.

Two years ago, the Arnold man started a “side gig” of selling the canned and brined vegetables he grows at 3 Shiba Farm, a 60-foot by 100-foot garden he runs in his city.

His popular spread Saturday was eclectic, to say the least.

A single table bowed under rows of jars and bottles filled with everything from pickled red onions and blood-red chipotle ghost pepper hot sauce to cherry rhubarb jelly, old-fashioned German garlic dill pickles and apple butter — including one variation prepared with bourbon.

“A Depression-era bread-and-butter pickle — you won’t find that in the store,” laughed Resetar, 66, through a bushy white beard. “It’s labor-intensive but I have fun, I like it. I get to meet a lot of good people.”

“The markets also give you exposure,” he added. “That’s the great thing, meeting new people. The main thing is to get known a little bit more.”

Resetar said his operation is not huge. On a typical Saturday, he’ll make about 30 sales — all cash; he keeps hand-scribbled notes on each one in a nearby notebook.

His work is so hyper-local, in fact, that his Mason jars bear no labels. He even makes home deliveries.

The market also was busy Saturday. Lucy Bowser sold out of her ladylocks, an Italian pastry, in about an hour.

Bowser baked sweets for nearly 20 years at Elena Restaurant and Cafe, a now-closed Italian eatery in the Hillcrest Shopping Center. When Bowser’s husband, Edward, died six years ago, she started baking and selling directly to A-K Valley residents.

“That’s what I enjoy doing,” Bowser, 86, of Lower Burrell.

“That’s her gift and she like’s sharing it with everybody,” added Bowser’s daughter, Michele Clark, 53, of Lower Burrell, as she sold biscotti and pizzelles, Italian waffle cookies flavored with vanilla or anise.

Gabriel Pawloski runs a slightly larger operation.

The Buffalo Township man, who grows his produce on two acres of land in Butler Township, has been selling at local markets since 2015. He has a paid staff of five and helps sells produce from five other area farmers.

This spring, he sold more than 600 hanging baskets with flowers grown in three greenhouses he owns.

On Saturday, Pawloski was sidelined partially with an injury but his two children — adorned in Gabriel’s Gardens T-shirts — joined staffers to help unload plump beefsteak tomatoes, apples and peaches from Chambersburg, and corn from Evans City.

For Pawloski, events like the Lower Burrell market are essential to paying his bills.

“This is the only job I work — in the winter, I re-gather and I prepare,” said Pawloski, 45. “This definitely helps, having access to these retail customers.”

Vendors still have at least one more opportunity to cater to those customers.

Lower Burrell’s parks and recreation commission will host more than 30 vendors at its second annual fall festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 19 in Officer Derek Kotecki Memorial Park, said Logan, the market coordinator.

Kids can watch balloon artists, run obstacle courses and get their faces painted for free at the event, which also is set to include a car show and corn-hole tournament.