The first New Amsterdam Market was held back in December 2007. Thirty-two farmers, artisans, and food purveyors began setting up at dawn to sell their goods in the freezing cold.
A staggering 4,000 people came that day, some traveling from Philadelphia and even Boston. When the day ended, many vendors had completely sold out.
Clearly, the folks behind the New Amsterdam Market were onto something.
Cerise Mayo, the Market’s Program Director, essentially curates the market. She also has the daunting task of sourcing for the market (both products and purveyors). Through a series of phone calls, she tracks down the people behind appropriate products and brings them into the market. Unlike traditional cold calls, Cerise finds that talking about the New Amsterdam Market and ideas behind re-instituting public markets sells itself.
She said the market is really about the purveyors, maintaining strong relationships, and making sure the market works in their interest. In this line of thinking, Cerise explained there is a limit on the number of prepared foods sold because they want the public talking and blogging about the market food itself and not getting distracted by a popular sandwich that might be for sale.
Cerise developed a business relationship with Market founder Robert LaValva, while both worked at Slow Food USA. She eventually left Slow Food and when Robert asked her to come on board with his project a few years later, Cerise brought a wide array of experiences from working at Slow Food, the Raw Milk Cheesemakers’ Association, and her apprenticeship with master gardeners at the Four Season Farm in Maine.
While Cerise acknowledged small pockets where local food movements have sprouted across the country, it takes an infinite amount of planning to pull off a public market like this in Manhattan. But she enjoys her work immensely because she feels it’s necessary and is both a timely and creative project. Also, I’d personally like to add that it must be pretty damn cool getting to make real connections with the likes of Mast Brothers Chocolate, Saxelby Cheesemongers, and Dickson’s Farmstead Meats.
Due to the complexity of market days, Cerise and Robert use a small army of volunteers to help serve as Market Ambassadors who give a voice to the market by talking to people, generating support, and surveying visitation.
The New Amsterdam Market is looking for interns as they are an expanding organization that just moved into new office space.
The new market season kicks off in June along South Street in Lower Manhattan. For more information on the market (or to contact Cerise Mayo) visit their website by clicking here.
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