The Onancock Market

The Onancock Market ties directly into Onancock Main Street while giving local farmers, watermen, and artisans a place to sell fresh, seasonal, locally grown, locally manufactured goods and qualified art face to face with shoppers. Established in 2012 as a volunteer-driven 501(c)(3), the market operates as vendor-produced only, meaning vendors have made, grown, or caught everything they bring for sale. That makes this market feel especially direct: produce, seafood, bread, art, and handmade goods all come from the people behind the table.

Why it matters locally

Established in 2012, The Onancock Market was created to provide a venue where local farmers, watermen, and artisans can offer fresh, seasonal, locally grown and manufactured products, along with qualified art, directly to people in the community. Its vendor-produced-only standard matters here because shoppers are buying from the source rather than through a reseller. The market also states a broader local purpose: supporting the regional arts community, backing the vitality of the local farming and fishing community, and reviving Onancock’s historic role as a regional market center. That mix of growers, seafood sellers, makers, and artists gives the market a distinctly Eastern Shore shape.

What you'll find there

The vendor mix runs wider than a produce-only stop, with vegetables, meats, microgreens, baked goods, honey, herbal products, pottery, paintings, woodwork, and Chesapeake Bay-inspired crafts all represented. The emphasis stays on goods made, grown, or caught by the vendors themselves, so the lineup reads like a cross-section of the Eastern Shore’s food and maker economy.

• -Find staple and specialty vegetables and herbs from Cusheeba Earth Farm.
• -Pick up sustainably grown seasonal vegetables, including asparagus and Hayman sweet potatoes, from Hopeland Gardens.
• -Add organically grown microgreens in a range of aromatic, robust flavors from Microgreens from the Shore.
• -Shop Perennial Roots Farm for grass-fed lamb and beef, pastured pork, rabbit, and seasonal fruits and vegetables.
• -Look for pepper powders and pumpkins from Tidal Rythm Organic Farm.
• -Bring home fresh ground horseradish, horseradish root, berries, root vegetables, and wild berry jam from Van Dessel Farms.
• -Choose sourdough artisan breads, yeast breads, pastries, sweet treats, and cake or pie slices from Angela’s Pop Up Bakery.
• -Stock up on raw honey plus beeswax lip balms, candles, soaps, and lotion bars from Barnes Bees.
• -Try gluten-free and vegan baked goods from Kookie Momster.
• -Sample flavored biscotti from Out of the Kitchen.
• -Pour a cup of fresh-squeezed lemonade or another seasonal beverage from In and Out FoodBox.
• -Browse acrylic paintings and hand-painted candles from Artwork by Jeannine.
• -See whimsical paintings of local flora and fauna by Carrie Jacobson.
• -Explore hand-turned bowls and hand-carved utensils by Joel Simpson, Artisan.
• -Browse Eastern Shore Chesapeake Bay model workboats from Uppity Mermaid.
• -Check shell, seaglass, and washed-ashore NASA rocket-piece sculptures from Rocket Art Schulptures.
• -Pick from pottery lanterns, garlic jars, butterbells, and plates by Tomeka Watkinson.

The market also runs an indoor winter market at 20 Market Street on Saturdays, plus a pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Market in the lot at Market and Ames Streets.

Know before you go

No dogs are allowed, which may affect how you plan a Saturday stop. In summer, the market sets up in the lot at the corner of Market and Ames Streets, and that same lot is used for the pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Market. The winter market moves indoors to 20 Market Street, where Saturday market hours continue through the colder months. Parking notes specifically point to the Market and Ames lot for the summer and pre-Thanksgiving markets. The market manager is Theresa Van Dessel, and the organization is volunteer-driven, with board members including Angela Faraguna and Joel Simpson.

Payments & SNAP

SNAP/EBT is accepted at The Onancock Market, an important detail if you are planning a produce or pantry stop. The market also identifies payment details clearly for shoppers, alongside its vendor-produced-only model and direct-from-the-source sales approach.