New Baltimore, Michigan — My wife and I walked in the middle of Front Street at Washington Street on Sunday, June 9th with white, blue, yellow, and other multi-colored canopies and tents lining both sides of the street.

Underneath each canopy were a variety of items on the tables — fresh strawberries, homemade spices, fresh produce, home-made treats for pets, scented candles, flavored syrups, hand-crafted t-shirts and clothing, and many other locally made goods.

It was all part of the weekly New Baltimore Farmer’s Market, held each Sunday from 9 am-2pm in downtown New Baltimore from May through October.

The weather was perfect the day that my wife, Sue, and I walked through the market: sunny, 75 degrees, and windy enough for some of the vendors to hold onto their canopies so they didn’t tip over.

Vendors participating in the Farmer’s Market this day stretched along Front Street in front of the Pink House Tea Room and Bed and Breakfast next to Walter and Mary Burke Park along Lake St. Clair and then along Washington Street to Main Street in the downtown.

It was a lively atmosphere with friendly visitors walking together, pet dogs on leashes, and aspiring local small business people and artisans sharing their recipes, treats, produce, and other wares.

This was small-town business USA in action and hundreds of visitors supporting it on a beautiful spring day.

According to the New Baltimore Farmer’s Market website, The New Baltimore Farmers Market is a non-profit community organization whose purpose is to provide a link to local foods, farmers, and artisans, with supportive access to fresh foods for all consumers, while educating, sharing and encouraging the health and economic benefits of local foods, entrepreneurship, and activities with partnerships and volunteers from the Macomb / St. Clair County areas.

The Farmer’s Market began in 2007 and, according to its website, the philosophy is that they support local farmers/producers to build their business & provide the desired products (produce) in the best way they know how and support them in that effort. Our farmers grow what are considered “specialty crops” – these are foods that. you normally see at your grocery store in the produce department. Our farmers have their own crop list and their own growing practices.

I ran into vendor Sean Montgomery of Monty’s Farms in Imlay City, who had his tent set up at the entrance to the market at Main and Washington streets. This day, Sean — aka Monty — was selling fresh strawberries and garlic. What he sells, he said, is all based on what’s growing in Michigan now.

Soon at the market, he’ll be selling fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables. He said he grows his product in Imlay City at two greenhouses that are 240 feet x 32 feet and another roadside stand that is 30 x 50 feet.

While this is his first year as an exhibitor at the New Baltimore Farmer’s Market, he said he’s been involved in similar markets since he was 12 years old.

Our first stop at the Farmer’s Market was at Bob Arnold’s tent where he was selling homemade spices and delicious pretzels flavored with those spices. Bob’s local company is in Shelby and called TDW’s Rockin Seasonings. He offered free smells and tastings at his booth.

We picked up the Lost in Spice Savory Pretzels and the equally tasty Lost in Spice Mrs. G’s Cinna-Pretzels. Both are so good, and the bags of pretzels may be eaten by the time this blog is published!

From there, my wife and I stopped at Pet Wants of Chesterfield. Our dog is an 8-year-old Lhasa Apso 18-pound meatloaf “guard dog” puppy who thinks he’s a big dog. He has some anxiety when it comes to fireworks, thunder, other loud noises and car rides, So, Pet Wants had the perfect thing for our dog Noah: a natural, non-toxic Calming Balm that we can rub on his belly and back of his legs to make him less anxious.

He also deserved a treat, so we picked up a nutritious all-natural peanut butter and blueberry mini biscuits. When we got home, he devoured several of them.

From Pet Wants, my wife was already walking by the next booth when she heard, “Free cookie samples!” She stopped abruptly and said “Yes please!”

Laura Marchin from Algonac was selling her homemade O’Shee’s Irish Shortbread Cookies. We both tasted one and bought a bag. The cookies are made with just three ingredients: flour, butter, and sugar. Plain and simple and delicious.

Then it was on to something a little healthier: fresh strawberries. We stopped at the booth operated by the family of Rolling Ridge Farms in Imlay City. Not gonna lie — the strawberries are as sweet as candy. Even our dog Noah gulped down a couple at home and begged for more.

Love you Chesterfield Kroger and Meijer, but next week we’re getting our strawberries at the New Baltimore Farmer’s Market from the Rolling Ridge Farms booth.

We continued our walk along Washington Street and decided we needed an adult drink, so we stopped at Fin’s Eatery and Spirits and sat down at the awesome rooftop bar. Our bartender was Chris and he made my wife a couple great margaritas, while I had a couple Michigan-brewed Bell’s Oberon.

While we’ve been inside Fin’s many times, it was our first time in the rooftop bar overlooking the great town of downtown New Baltimore. It was a perfect place to chill and hang out and a perfect spring day overlooking Lake St. Clair.

I’m an independent observer and resident of Chesterfield Township and I’m not paid for writing any of this, but check out the Farmer’s Market on Sundays and check out some of the great restaurants that the downtown has to offer. Just don’t go all at once because my wife and I still want to get a table at our favorite downtown spots.