You know what gives a town life? Public spaces occupied by the public. Where one can run into friends and neighbors, maybe do a little shopping, grab a bite and check out some local music while you eat.
Old Bisbee is without a doubt such a space. Viewed from above, Brewery Gulch and Main Street form a left-handed checkmark, bookended by saloons, shops and restaurants with a good deal of outdoor seating. Landmarks like the Copper Man statue and Grassy Park are gathering places where everything from buskers and ware-hawkers set up, to tented vendors turning them into pop up commercial districts during Pride celebrations in June, to full on protests when the occasion demands. It does the trick, even if it’s a bit spread out and more retail and hospitality focused.
In the comparatively sleepy Warren District, we’ve got Vista Park where Bisbee’s Saturday Market appears. This weekly event is one of the best amenities in Warren if not the town as a whole.
Formerly known as the Farmer’s Market, it’s now called the Saturday Market because of the variety of goods on offer. There are vendors selling all sorts of things, from antiques and books, to art and jewelry, to cold drinks, hot food and baked goods.
And, unlike Old Bisbee, there’s parking.
Below we’ll give a shout out to a few other vendors, but really, there are so many, changing all the time, that its almost unfair to settle for a sample. That said…
Weidenthal Family Farm
The Market has gone through phases, ups and downs over many years. Currently Weedy Weidenthal of Weidenthal Family Farm manages the market. Weedy has been a Bisbee neighbor for just over a decade—”long enough to know better,” he says—having moved to the area to serve as original Master Brewer of the Tombstone Brewing Company. These days he’s focused on the farm—and the market. What the Weidenthal farm brings to market is locally-raised meat including beef, pork, lamb and returning this fall, chicken.
Sweet Acacia Farm
Veronika of Sweet Acacia Farm brings produce to the market that is…how does one say this? Adorable. The produce is often cute, looking like something out of a 90s Nintendo Mario Brothers game. These specimens are available at her stand by the piece and by the pound, but she also maintains a subscription-based Community Supported Agriculture service, with seasonal veggies and microgreens ready for pickup each week at the booth.
Mily’s Stand
Mily’s Stand offers Mexican staples including a variety of tortillas, machaca and beef jerky; chiltepin by the sack and fresh farmer’s cheese; pan dulce and itty bitty mother’s day cookies; fresh hot tamales, burritos, fresh made salsa and snacks.
Mily’s is my favorite spot at the market. They know me for picking up the same items every time: tortillas, habanero-infused cheese and mason jars of chile salsa that I can’t get enough of.
To paraphrase Nate Dogg: hey hey hey hey: green chile every day.
Again, this is a very small sample of a much larger enterprise. The reader is invited to check it out for themselves. And the above is well within what one expects of a proper farmer’s market. But the Saturday Market is so much more than that. The local Rotary Club maintains a booth, and the local Kingdom Hall sets up to spread the word. On occasion there are barber services for dogs needing their nails trimmed and their coats shorn. Bisbee’s recent mayoral race saw the winning candidate hold a weekly booth for a highly accessible, running Q&A session with her future constituents. Civic-minded types regularly circulate petitions supporting this or that local, state or even federal cause. There is live music every week, rain or shine; often the musicians lend their mic for announcements, like the recent Bisbee High School car wash fundraiser.
Simply put, the Bisbee Saturday Market is a Town Square, Bisbee’s Agora, a public place holding public space each and every week in Warren’s Vista Park. It makes the town feel alive because it invites life, lives and breathes life into the community. It is so much more than a place to shop. It is a place where community is acted out in real time.
And: there’s parking.
Keith Allen Dennis is a Bisbee writer, living the dream of becoming the songster he was meant to be. Sometimes he is lucky enough to get to sing for the people at the Bisbee Saturday Market. Find his music at keithallendennis.bandcamp.com.