Dunedin Farmer's Market
Each Friday and Saturday, Downtown Dunedin hosts a relatively large farmer's market filled with fruit and vegetable vendors, bakers, chefs, jewelry makers, and other local artisans. The weather has been picture perfect here lately so I knew I wanted to take advantage of the sunny day and partake in an activity outdoors. There are several restaurants and antique stores surrounding the downtown market area, so it's perfect to visit the market and to shop and support the local businesses as well
If you like to shop for antiques and vintage fare, you should definitely check out Patina Vintage and Modern. They have an amazing selection of housewares, purses and accessories, as well as clothing and jewelry. The owner of Patina has several vendors she purchases from and she shops for products at local and sate wide estate sales and auctions. She always has incredibly interesting stories about where each item comes from. I left with a brass dial calendar that shows the day and month. If you're down there this month, they are offering 50% off specials for hundreds of their products.
We stopped and purchased several little afternoon snacks from some of the local vendors. We tried a watermelon lemonade and mango dream mixed juice from Sereniteas and Soothers. It was so delicious and was the perfect drink for a hot afternoon.
We also bought several bags of these flavored marshmallows sold by a woman who splits her time between Florida and Rhode Island. She owns a homemade ice cream shop in Rhode Island and when the shop is closed during the winter months, she travels to Florida and sells her marshmallows at several farmer's markets in town. This was her last market in Florida before heading back to Rhode Island for the season. I knew after trying samples of all the marshmallow flavors, I had to leave with a bag or two. I bought one bag of the toasted coconut and one bag of the espresso marshmallows. I can't wait to use them in s'mores or homemade rice krispie treats this summer!
Local artist, Anna Hamilton, painted the below mural as a charity event to raise money for the Dunedin Doggie Rescue. Fun fact, Anna is also the owner of Patina! People in the community could pay between $25-200 dollars to have a portrait of their pup painted on the Dogedin mural. Each dog is labeled with their name and it's fun to stop and spend some time going through them all.
Post market, we went to Lobster Haven for a late lunch. Aside from the restaurant, Lobster Haven is a market where you can call in advance and purchase large quantities of fresh Maine lobster, shrimp, oysters, crab, and fish. They also have a smaller variety of seafood available to purchase in-store. One of the chefs brought out a new dish for us to try, smoked salmon with a key lime and stone ground mustard sauce. It was so delicious we had to order an appetizer portion to split. For our entree, my mom and I split a Maine lobster roll. I'm so happy it's the kick-off for lobster roll season. There's nothing better than enjoying a lobster roll and cape cod chips after a day spent outdoors.