Expand<\/a><\/p>\nThe couple, of Dickson City, come to the market multiple times each year. They know what they like to eat and they know the vendors. They even know some of the other customers.<\/p>\n
To them, there is no safer place to purchase produce, including lettuce.<\/p>\n
Neil and Mary Frances Malatesta also came out early to get the best selection.<\/p>\n
Neil Malatesta, who grew up on a farm, stressed the importance of supporting local farmers, especially in the face of economic challenges.<\/p>\n
The two bought cucumbers, zucchini and other vegetables destined to their dinner table.<\/p>\n
\u2018Hand cleaned, hand picked and hand packed\u2019<\/p>\n
Bill Hopkins of Hopkins of Hopkins Farm LLC emphasized there were \u201czero problems\u201d with produce grown locally. He said vegetables sold from his farm is \u201chand cleaned, hand picked and hand packed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smaller, local farms are always the safest choice, because they are accountable to their customers, he said.<\/p>\n
In addition, vegetables from just down the road always tastes better than anything that\u2019s trucked in from far away.<\/p>\n
Hopkins was pleased with the turnout for the market\u2019s first day and first hour.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that even the hazardous smog blanketing the area from Canadian wildfires this week, seemed to have cleared up especially for the year\u2019s first market.<\/p>\n
Logan Brace, of Brace\u2019s Orchard, said every vendor at the event was required to be \u201cfarm to market,\u201d ensuring produce was safe and fresh.<\/p>\n
He described that market as a \u201chuge benefit\u201d to local residents, who can purchase produce directly from vendors they know.<\/p>\n
In addition, farm staff can also make suggestions and provide information about flavor.<\/p>\n
Brace\u2019s best seller this week, colorful peaches on display in containers which provided customers a chance to pick the fruit they deemed the freshest.<\/p>\n
Joe Duffy of Scranton and his family were considering purchasing lettuce at the market after they threw store-bought lettuce away because of concerns about safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if we\u2019re going to buy the lettuce,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, if we did, this would be the safest place to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The co-op market at 900 Barring Ave. will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Thanksgiving Eve.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opening day of Scranton\u2019s Co-Op Farmers\u2019 Market Friday found Darlene and Frank Gullone purchasing all of their usual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-246087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Gene](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FARMERSMARKET-0718-06.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Hopkins](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FARMERSMARKET-0718-04.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Hopkins](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FARMERSMARKET-0718-05.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Siblings](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FARMERSMARKET-0718-01.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Green](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FARMERSMARKET-0718-07.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FARMERSMARKET-0718-02.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FARMERSMARKET-0718-03.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n