If you’ve been following my adventures in Five to Try, you’ll know that it’s been a varied bit of new adventures, new places and new tastes along the way – from trekking through Dinosaur World and the Florida Craftsmen Gallery to noshing at new Thai restaurants and vegetarian recipes and even a six-week sampling of various painting techniques at the Carrollwood Cultural Center, which was a real hoot… the first two months of this creative experiment for 2011 has already given me lots of great times, smiles and adventures!
I’ve got some fun things planned for this month already…And this past weekend, I launched the month’s experiment with a visit to a brand new event for me – actually, it’s a fairly new event for my community too and I checked it out for myself on Saturday…
If you are a fan of organic products, fresh produce, tasty jams, sauces, specialty foods like a variety of pierogies, tamales, kettle popcorn and more tasty fare, then you should make a trip next month to this new Pasco event, the Fresh Market at Shops at Wiregrass, held the first Saturday of the month from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
The event is pet-friendly, though I didn’t bring my 13-year-old chiweenie because frankly, I’d probably be carrying the tired little guy most of the way. But it was so much fun watching all of the little poochies take the closed-off street with the many pedestrians filling up the space. There were plenty of booths with a good variety of items – food products, arts and crafts, a few non-profit and animal rescue groups, and so much more. I’d say probably the one booth that I felt was really out of place at a Fresh Market was a cigar vendor. That seemed to take away the whole “fresh air” aspect, but I’ll admit I’m a bit biased on that one since I can’t STAND the smell of a cigar (or a cigarette either). Now, light a pipe and I’m embarrassed to say I actually like the smell. Weird, I know.
So did we find anything worth purchasing? Well, we found a lot of good produce – though we had just gone grocery shopping the day before and the house was already stocked full of fresh fruits and vegetables. So we didn’t partake in the produce though it looked enticing and seemed to be reasonably priced. We did however pick up a tasty-looking homemade carrot cake from one friendly chap and I finally picked up a little handcrafted zippered pouch to use when I golf to hold my tees, stroke counter, ball marker, eye drops and chapstick.
Pretty nifty, huh? I know, I know. It’s a little bizarre-looking but then again, so is my golf. So it seemed apropos.
And no, I’m not completely sure what that thing is on the pouch – is it a dragonfly? Is it a lobster? Is it an alien? Maybe, maybe, and maybe. I do love a good mystery. (And feel free to place your vote…I’m going with dragonfly just because the other two possibilities creep me out a little bit!)
I expect that we’ll be checking out other Fresh Markets in the area sometime in the future (at least while the weather is balmy and not muggy!) Maybe Hyde Park or Ybor City’s in a future month… but if you are looking for a new event to check out and you happen to be out in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area on Sat. 4/2, give yourself an hour to sneak a peek. It’s free entry and free parking. (I recommend parking around by the garage side for less traffice and you’ll get a better spot anyway!)
One down, four to go…
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