REC Mobile Farmers Market - Elm Park Towers

REC Mobile Farmers Market - Elm Park Towers is part of the Regional Environmental Council’s farmers market network in Worcester, run by a nonprofit food justice organization with a 53-year history tied to environmental sustainability and social justice in the city. At 425 Pleasant Street, this Tuesday stop brings REC’s mobile market model directly to Elm Park Towers rather than asking shoppers to travel to one of the larger park markets. The result is a short, practical market centered on fresh food access, with produce, eggs, bread, honey, mushrooms, maple products, and other farm goods drawn from REC’s wider vendor roster.

Why it matters locally

REC frames these markets as part of a broader Worcester mission: the organization runs community and mobile farmers markets alongside Urban Garden Resources of Worcester and Youth Growing Organics in Worcester, linking food access, gardening, and youth employment under one local umbrella. That matters at Elm Park Towers because this stop is one piece of a citywide mobile schedule that also reaches places like Murray & Wellington Apartments, Webster Square Towers, Coes Pond Village Apartments, Green Hill Towers, and the Worcester Senior Center. REC also states that its markets are designed as selling opportunities for small and medium-size farms and encourages small urban growers and BIPOC growers to apply, giving this market a direct role in who gets to sell food in Worcester.

What you'll find there

The vendor mix attached to REC’s markets leans hard toward produce, but it does not stop at standard vegetables. The roster includes culturally significant crops, urban farm production, scratch baking, honey, mushrooms, eggs, meat, and maple goods, which gives this one-hour mobile stop a wider range than its footprint suggests.

• -Find pure maple syrup plus maple cream, maple sugar, and maple candies from Bucket List Maple Syrup.
• -Pick up nutrient-dense produce and fresh eggs from Cotyledon Farm, which also raises layer chickens.
• -Look for herbs, culturally significant crops, honey, lip balms, and salves from Global Village Farms.
• -Try sunflower, broccoli, sweet pea, and radish microgreens from Just For Fun Farms.
• -Expect edible gourds, pumpkin leaves, amaranth greens, jilo, mustard greens, and shell beans from Misigaro Farms.
• -Shop vegetables grown through greenhouse and outdoor production by REC YouthGROW Farm.
• -Add breads and baked goods made from scratch with organic flours from Wooden Bakery.
• -Sip coffee or take home pastries from Daphne’s Tears Bakery Cafe, including traditional Turkish coffee.
• -Watch for more than 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables from Harper Farms & Garden, including Mirai corn.
• -Bring home raw, treatment-free honey, pasture-raised eggs, beeswax candles, and skincare products from Kelly Homestead Apiary.
• -Seek out bitter gourd, hot peppers, long beans, mustard greens, daikon, cilantro, eggplant, and cucumbers from Nuestro Huerto Urban Farm.
• -Choose grass-fed beef, fruits and vegetables, or award winning ice cream from Rota Spring Farm.
• -Browse diversified fruits and vegetables and heritage breed pork from Coolidge Hill Farm.
• -Pick up produce grown with non-GMO seeds and Integrated Pest Management practices from Fay Mountain Farm.
• -Explore tomatoes, peppers, okra, water spinach, sweet potato leaves, gourds, amaranth greens, malabar spinach, and lalu from Juakumbah Farms.
• -Shop source-identified foods from Marty's Local, a locally owned and operated distributor.
• -Find fresh, responsibly grown food from Rattle Root Farm.
• -Take home shiitake, blue oyster, golden oyster, pink oyster, and Lion’s Mane mushrooms from the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA.

The mobile market season runs June 16 through December 17, with Tuesday locations and times scheduled across Worcester, including Elm Park Towers. One strong thread at Elm Park Towers is how often REC’s market network turns up crops and products that go beyond a default New England market basket. Global Village Farms brings herbs and culturally significant crops alongside honey and handmade balms. Misigaro Farms grows edible gourds, pumpkin leaves, amaranth greens, jilo, mustard greens, and shell beans, and is tied to Valeria Niyonkuru, who is identified as REC’s YouthGROW Farm Mentor. Nuestro Huerto Urban Farm adds bitter gourd, long beans, daikon, cilantro, and eggplant. Juakumbah Farms lists water spinach, sweet potato leaves, malabar spinach, and lalu with its tomatoes, peppers, and okra. Even the mushroom selection from the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA stretches past one standard variety, with shiitake, blue oyster, golden oyster, pink oyster, and Lion’s Mane.

Know before you go

This is a very short stop: Elm Park Towers runs for one hour on Tuesdays, from 9:00am to 10:00am, during the June 16 to December 17 season. The market is at 425 Pleasant Street at Elm Park Towers, one of REC’s Tuesday mobile market locations. Dogs are not allowed. No restroom information is provided for this stop, and the parking note published by REC applies to the REC office at 108 Beacon Street rather than Elm Park Towers, so plan this as a quick in-and-out visit rather than a longer market outing. For questions, REC lists a market phone number and email for its farmers market program.

Payments & SNAP

SNAP/EBT is accepted at REC Mobile Farmers Market - Elm Park Towers. REC also describes its markets as providing assistance with SNAP/HIP transactions and Farmers Market Nutrition Program coupon management for vendors, which aligns with the market’s food-access focus. Payment details are presented clearly for REC’s markets.