Harwich Conservation Trust Brings Back Popular Farmer Event

HARWICH – The Harwich Conservation Trust is bringing back its Meet Your Local Farmers event on March 29, and the Orleans Farmers’ Market is coming along for the fun.

The market, which is being held this winter on Saturdays inside of Lower Cape TV, will relocate specially for the event, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the community center.

“This is the largest local farmer gathering featuring the highest quality farm products on Cape Cod,” HCT Executive Director Michael Lach said in a statement. “Farmers from one end of the Cape to the other enrich our communities with their hard work and love of the land.”

Along with local farmers and vendors selling their own food and products, this year’s event will also feature livestock including Scottish Highland cattle, pigs and a horse. Live music will also be provided courtesy of Wayne Naus and the Art Ensemble of Cape Cod.

Lach said Meet Your Local Farmers started in 2009 as a partnership between the Trust and the Cape and Islands Farm Bureau. The inaugural event featured about a dozen vendors and exhibitors, but grew over the following decade to include as many as 50 local farmers and farm-affiliated groups and organizations.

The event has been on hiatus since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lach said the time is right to reintroduce it to the community.

“We've been hearing from people that they want it back,” he said.

Lach said the farm bureau was unable to participate in the event this year, but that the Orleans Farmers’ Market “organically grew into a great new event partner.”

Started in 1994, the farmers’ market features more than 30 local vendors weekly selling everything from produce, meats and fish to baked goods, clothing and art. The market operates year round, located behind the Artist Cottages during the spring and summer months. 

“For over 30 years, the Orleans Farmers’ Market has been connecting the community to farmers and their amazing variety of healthy homegrown food, beverages, and unique products,” Lach said in a follow-up email. “They’re a natural partner to help cultivate awareness and appreciation for our local farms and all they offer to residents and visitors alike.”

Farming and agriculture has a proud tradition on Cape Cod and the Islands that predates the arrival of the first English settlers. As concerns grow about how tariffs imposed on other countries by the Trump Administration might impact local farmers, Lach said this year’s event carries added emphasis.

“It’s more important than ever to support local businesses run by folks who know and love the Cape like our hardworking farmers,” he said.