REC University Park Farm Stand

REC University Park Farm Stand is part of the Regional Environmental Council, a Worcester nonprofit food justice organization with a 53-year history tied to environmental sustainability and social justice in the city. On Saturdays, the stand brings that work to University Park at 965 Main Street, across from Clark University, with a compact market built around fresh food and urban agriculture. The setting matters, but the mission is the sharper hook: this is a farm stand connected to REC’s broader work in community and mobile farmers markets, community and school gardens, and the YouthGROW employment and urban agriculture program for Worcester teens.

Why it matters locally

The Regional Environmental Council frames its markets as part of a broader food justice effort in Worcester, not as a standalone retail program. Its work spans Community and Mobile Farmers Markets, Urban Garden Resources of Worcester community and school gardens, and Youth Growing Organics in Worcester, a youth employment and urban agriculture program for Worcester teens. That local focus also shapes who the markets are built to serve and support: REC describes its summer markets as opportunities for small and medium-size farms to sell to a diverse array of customers and build their businesses, and it explicitly encourages small urban growers and BIPOC growers to apply. At this location, that mission shows up in a vendor mix that includes youth-grown produce, urban farms, and growers specializing in culturally significant crops.

What you'll find there

The mix here leans heavily toward produce, eggs, honey, bread, and prepared baked goods, with several growers bringing culturally significant crops alongside more familiar staples. It’s also a market where REC’s own youth agriculture program appears directly in the vendor lineup, rather than sitting behind the scenes.

• -Pick up pure maple syrup, maple cream, maple sugar, and maple candies from Bucket List Maple Syrup.
• -Find seasonal produce and fresh eggs from Cotyledon Farm, which grows nutrient-dense vegetables and raises layer chickens.
• -Look for herbs, culturally significant crops, and value-added products such as honey from Global Village Farms.
• -Choose 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 from REC YouthGROW Farm, the organization’s youth development and employment program.
• -Take home breads and baked goods made from scratch with organic flours from Wooden Bakery.
• -Add pastries and coffee, including traditional Turkish coffee, from Daphne’s Tears Bakery Cafe.
• -Browse more than 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables, including fresh Mirai corn, at Harper Farms & Garden.
• -Get raw, treatment-free honey, pasture-raised eggs, beeswax candles, and skincare products from Kelly Homestead Apiary.
• -Find bitter gourd, hot peppers, long beans, mustard greens, daikon, cilantro, eggplant, and cucumbers at Nuestro Huerto Urban Farm.
• -Bring home grass-fed beef, fruits and vegetables, and award winning ice cream from Rota Spring Farm.
• -Check Coolidge Hill Farm for diversified fruits and vegetables and heritage breed pork.
• -Stock up on produce grown with non-GMO seeds and Integrated Pest Management practices from Fay Mountain Farm.
• -Seek out tomatoes, peppers, okra, water spinach, sweet potato leaves, gourds, amaranth greens, malabar spinach, and lalu from Juakumbah Farms.
• -Browse source-identified foods from Martys Local, a locally owned and operated food distributor.
• -Find fresh, responsibly grown food from Rattle Root Farm.
• -Try shiitake, blue oyster, golden oyster, pink oyster, and lion’s mane mushrooms from the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA.

The Saturday University Park market runs June 13 through October 31, while REC also operates other seasonal farmers markets and mobile markets around Worcester on Fridays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The clearest thread at University Park is how directly REC’s nonprofit work shows up in what you can buy. REC describes itself as a food justice organization with long-running programs in community gardening, mobile markets, and youth employment in urban agriculture. At this stand, that mission lands on the table through REC YouthGROW Farm vegetables grown by a youth development and employment program for Worcester teens and through farms centered on culturally significant crops, including Global Village Farms, Misigaro Farms, Nuestro Huerto Urban Farm, and Juakumbah Farms. Even the market’s vendor outreach matches that pattern: REC says it encourages small urban growers and BIPOC growers to apply to its summer markets. The result is a Saturday stop where produce selection also reflects who the market is meant to include.

Know before you go

No dogs are allowed, which is the detail most likely to change how you plan a Saturday visit. For drivers, parking for the University Park location is in the Clark lot on Gates Street. The stand is set at University Park, across from Clark University, with the market address listed as 965 Main Street. Restrooms are not available on site. The market’s listed Saturday schedule includes a July 4 closure, so holiday weekend routines may differ from a normal week. If you’re comparing REC options, this is the Saturday University Park location rather than the Friday Beaver Brook Park market or the weekday mobile market stops around the city.

Payments & SNAP

SNAP/EBT is accepted at REC University Park Farm Stand. REC also says its markets provide assistance on running SNAP/HIP transactions and on applying for and managing Farmers Market Nutrition Program coupons, underscoring food access as part of the market model.