{"id":350910,"date":"2026-09-19T04:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T04:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/350910\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T04:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T04:33:16","slug":"folk-music-brings-lively-ambience-to-manhattan-farmers-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/350910\/","title":{"rendered":"Folk music brings lively ambience to Manhattan Farmer\u2019s Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

When strolling through the vendors at Manhattan\u2019s weekly farmer\u2019s market, shoppers may hear the sound of acoustic instruments and singing voices. The sweet sounds come from behind George LeRoux\u2019s table, where a group of instrumentalists sits, enjoying themselves while playing folk music.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LeRoux, owner of Flint Hill\u2019s Prairie Bison Reserve, has been selling bison meat and holding jam sessions at the farmer\u2019s market since 1999.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a bunch of local musicians, you know?\u201d LeRoux said. \u201cWe like to get together and play music. Some of us has played in a band in the past. Me and Brian played in a band called The Haymakers for a while. The rest are just local musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

LeRoux said there has been a rolling jam for about 30 years that continues today. Originally, the musicians played together every Thursday night, before moving to Fridays when the group would jam until midnight. Eventually, they lost players for various reasons, and there were no longer enough instruments. However, the group experienced a revival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of slid, and then, all of a sudden, it was picked up with one of the original jam members from 15 years earlier, 20 years earlier,\u201d LeRoux said. \u201cThe next thing you know, there\u2019s a conglomeration of musicians getting together every week to continue it on, and that jam still goes on today, every Tuesday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesdays, the group gets together in a more private setting to play, where local musicians and their spouses can come together and enjoy the music.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LeRoux said most of those local musicians are people that he considers long-time friends, including Dan Richards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known George for a long time, but I didn\u2019t start playing guitar \u2018till I was 42,\u201d Richards said.<\/p>\n

Richards is also a long-time member of the group; however, he had no previous musical background before joining.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first got hooked up with these guys in the jam, I wasn\u2019t even playing,\u201d Richards said. \u201cThen I started playing, so I just went to the jam, sat in the back and watched and tried to emulate. We\u2019ve been playing together off and on ever since.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Two women, playing the guitar and the cello, concentrate on each other as they play a tune during the Saturday jam sessions at the Manhattan Farmer\u2019s Market on September 6. (Payton Lee<\/a>)<\/p>\n

LeRoux had no specific goal in mind when the musical group formed. He was simply jamming with his friends and enjoying the moment. Richards said that carefree approach is what sets their group apart from bands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always an ulterior motive,\u201d Richards said. \u201cHere, there\u2019s no ulterior motive, and I think that\u2019s what makes it unique.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s welcoming atmosphere is another defining characteristic. The crew encourages anyone to hop in and join jam sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSing along if you want, or play along, bring your guitar and sit in,\u201d said LeRoux. \u201cIt\u2019s an open jam. Anybody can come play with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For LeRoux, the open jam is about bringing the music community together by sharing one thing: a song.<\/p>\n

Richards thinks that the spontaneity of jam sessions makes them even more entertaining and accessible to people who may not have the chance to hear live music often.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people don\u2019t have the time or the means to go to organized functions,\u201d Richards said. \u201cSpontaneous stuff like this just gives people a chance to hear something, relax and maybe have a good time. Maybe hear an old song or two they haven\u2019t heard in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with market visitors, vendors nearby also enjoy hearing the music every Saturday morning. Kat Sellers works for a booth close to LeRoux\u2019s that sells baked goods and said she has heard the sounds of folk music ever since she started working at the farmer\u2019s market in December 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRain or shine or snow, they\u2019re out there, at least a couple of them,\u201d Sellers said.<\/p>\n

Showcasing local artists and music is important to Sellers. She often sees a crowd form to listen and join the jam sessions on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, the coffee cart is right there, so it\u2019s, like, a line of people for the coffee and the music, so it\u2019s just a huge group of people,\u201d Sellers said. \u201cThis is the prime spot, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, Saturday morning folk music has become part of the atmosphere for shoppers and vendors alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019d be very quiet and sad if they weren\u2019t here anymore,\u201d Sellers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As long as the musicians keep showing up, the Saturday morning jam will remain a familiar part of the market, bringing the music community together one song at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When strolling through the vendors at Manhattan\u2019s weekly farmer\u2019s market, shoppers may hear the sound of acoustic instruments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-350910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}