Egleston farmers market: Our Story

Sharing delicious food has a way of bringing people together. Jamaica Plain and Roxbury are diverse neighborhoods, but residents from different races, classes, and ethnic groups don’t always socialize together. In the fall of 2011, a group of farmers, local food lovers, and community members from Egleston Square Main Street, the Jamaica Plain New Economy Transition, and other groups decided that a winter farmers market would be a great way to unite the community and support local businesses. We formed an advisory committee to help Market Manager Kate Peppard launch the market.

Egleston Farmers Market opened as an indoor winter market in November 2012 at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Hall in Jamaica Plain. Each week, the market attracted hundreds of people to enjoy local food, listen to live music and meet their neighbors. Based on the popularity of the winter market, we decided to add an outdoor summer/fall market in the church parking lot. In 2014, we moved the market location to the Brewery Complex and held our summer market in the JPNDC parking lot through 2019.  The market closed just before the 2020 season due to Covid-19.

In 2022, Mendi’s Boston, run by a longtime Egleston resident decided to relaunch the market and expand it to include various repair and recycling programs. The goal is to keep healthy, local food available and make low waste living more accessible to the community.

About Mendi’s Boston

Mendi’s Boston fights “throw-away” consumerism and fast fashion by helping people invest in what they have and redistributing our community’s excess through our events, workshops, and publications.

Our Style Revival events have repaired or redistributed over 5,000 units of unused clothing within our community - over 1,500 of those went to non-profits helping Boston’s homeless or people in need.

Mendi’s started in 2018 as a passion project for designer/researcher Will DeConto and Caitlin Kenney, a community event organizer (JP Flea, New Zineland, and the Boston Hassle’s Black Market flea)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST!

Need more information? Email Caitlin at eglestonfarmersmarket@gmail.com