TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Farmer's Market Marigot Day?

Is there a day for the farmer's market in Marigot still? Saw a few vendors there on NYE day (Monday) but just a few. Is there any day better than others or still suffering organizationally from Irma?

Look for when there are ships in. Although even on those days there are only a handful open. Since the produce stalls were blown away, the only seller I have seen is a couple selling from the back of their truck.

“Selling from the back of their truck....”

That is pretty much the way they did it ‘back in the day’ only in most cases, the back of the truck was actually the bottom of their boat or a cloth on the ground or a small table displaying their wares. It was pretty cool to see the small boats tied up and in the case of the fishermen, the array of fish and colors, sometimes still thrashing about in the boat, was surely a sight to see. Again, this was pre-SPEED II or whatever that movie was called, and the little boats from all around the island came in and tied up at the water’s edge to sell their goods.

Not too long ago I saw some pictures Kim had filched from one of our really old SXM family albums on line somewhere showing an animal butchered and on a wooden table at the same market. As the customer would step up to the stall the farmer would lop off a hunk of meat and wrap it up in paper tied with string for the purchaser. Yuck! But that’s the way it was done back in the late 70’s and into the mid 80’s at least.

Back then you could actually find Island souvenirs that were made on the island of SXM and the Knick-nacky items and tee shirts and such weren’t the predominant sales items like they are today.

Pat, Marigot was actually that way until the mid 90's. Speed II came out in 1997.

I as well have "pre-Speed" pictures of Marigot.
<sigh>

In all honesty, we pretty much lost interest in the market place as it became consistently more commercial and less ‘Island-like’ for want of a better term. For the most part over the past few years, when we lost track of the sorbet lady and it evolved into the more organized market of today, and unless we were enroute to Serafina, we basically just drive through Marigot to wherever we’re on our way to, usually Friars or Anse Marcel.

Pat, the butcher there now has a band saw!

I guess that’s an improvement over the machete-like apparatus he used to use? 😊😊

Drove through the warerfront about 10:30 today. There is one ship in. There were about 10 - 15 vendors in the market place. Fish market was open and the folks with the truck for provisions.