QUEENS — Forest Hills residents with a hankering for locally grown apples and pears even in January might be able to satisfy their craving under a new bid to keep their Greenmarket open year-round, organizers wrote on Twitter.
The Greenmarket, which currently operates every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the Forest Hills Post Office at 70th Avenue from April through the end of December, asked residents to sign a petition to keep the Forest Hills market open year round.
But on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the organization said that she didn't "have information on an expansion." Any extention of the market's season would also recquire the approval of a local community board.
Vendors and customers alike said they would love to see the program operate through the winter months.
"It's been so popular over the regular growing season and I think it would continue to be popular over the winter,” said Alexa Weitzman, who runs the Tuv Ha'aretz community supported agriculture group in Forest Hills and said she would be a regular customer all year long.
Andrew Cote of Andrew's Honey, who sells his produce at the market, said a decision to extend the months of operation “would be good for the farmers and good for the community."
Farmers at the Forest Hills Greenmarket also include Amantai Farm, a Pennsylvania-based farm providing vegetables, poultry, herbs, eggs and Mexican specialty produce, Bread Alone, an Ulster County-based producer of artisan breads and pastries, Castello di Borghese, wine producer from Suffolk County and Red Jacket Orchards from Ontario County.