This Pickle Stand Plays Four Farmers Markets Every Saturday. At the Same Time.
The Happy Pickle works nine farmers markets a week from Cape Coral to Lakewood Ranch, four of them on Saturday morning alone. Quarts are $6, four are $20, and there's an olive mix called OMG.
Most bands would kill for this schedule. The Happy Pickle has it, and the band is jars.
The family-owned pickle and olive outfit, which says it serves "all of Southwest Florida," lists nine farmers markets a week on its site. Tuesday is Cape Coral. Wednesday is Sarasota. Thursday is Englewood. Then Saturday arrives and they are somehow at four markets at once: Cape Coral, Punta Gorda, Venice and downtown Sarasota, all in the same morning. Sunday is a double bill, Naples and Lakewood Ranch.
Monday and Friday are off. Even a pickle needs a recovery day.
The tour stops near us
- Wednesday: Phillippi Farmhouse Market, 5500 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. That's this Wednesday, Oct. 28, if you want the midweek show with fewer people in the pit.
- Saturday: Sarasota Farmers Market, N. Lemon Avenue, 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Also Saturday, a little farther south: Venice Farmers' Market, 401 W. Venice Ave., 8 a.m. to noon.
- Sunday: Lakewood Ranch Farmers Market, 1561 Lakefront Dr., 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Market schedules shift with the seasons, so peek at their Facebook or Instagram before you plan a whole morning around a jar.
The set list
Pickles come whole, as spears or as chips, by the pint or the quart. The menu covers the classics (kosher dill, garlic dill, bread and butter) and then splits hairs the way only pickle people do: half sour and full sour, which is the pickle version of asking how you want your steak. There's spicy dill, sour green tomatoes, sauerkraut and a red pepper relish.
The headliner, as far as I'm concerned, is Sweet Hotties, which the stand describes as its bread and butter "with a kick." Two limited specials sit at the bottom of the list, Spicy Garlic Dill and Spicy Ranch, and I want to know who in that family looked at a pickle and thought, "Needs ranch." Whoever it was, I trust them.
The olive bar has a medley called OMG
It's real. The OMG Medley is green and kalamata olives with sundried tomatoes and feta, per the menu, which also lists an Italian medley, Moroccan oil-cured, Cerignola with pits and olives stuffed with blue cheese, provolone, jalapeño or garlic. You can mix and match in one container.
The prices, which are the best part
- Pickles: pint $4, quart $6, or four quarts for $20
- Olives: 8 oz. $6, 16 oz. $10, 32 oz. $18
Four quarts of pickles for $20 is not a deal for a normal household. It is a deal for a confident household. Possibly a household hosting Halloween on Saturday with a charcuterie board that needs to look like somebody tried.
If you live down toward Fort Myers and can't make a market, the site points to the Southwest Florida Produce co-op, which carries the dill chips and Sweet Hotties for pickup or delivery in its area.
Go
- Closest stops: Phillippi Farmhouse Market (Wednesday), Sarasota Farmers Market (Saturday), Lakewood Ranch Farmers Market (Sunday), per the stand's site
- Order this: a quart of half sours, a pint of Sweet Hotties and an OMG Medley, then pretend you came for the produce
- Bring: a tote bag that can take the weight. A quart of pickles is heavier than it looks, and you're buying four
Planning the week? Sandy has the week ahead and the meetups, Brooke has the outdoors, and the Halloween Finder has everything left before Saturday.
— Marina
Still hungry?
Can't pick? Pull a random one From the food, wine and myth-busting pile. No old game slates.