HLFM celebrates 20th anniversary with Farm to Table Brunch event
The Historic Lewes Farmers Market celebrated its 20th anniversary Oct. 12, with friends, supporters and farmers at the Farm to Table Brunch.
The menu, prepared by Chef Bill Clifton, featured local ingredients from market farmers and producers, including Davidson Exotic Mushrooms, Dittmar Family Farms, Enoch Farms, Fox Briar Farm, Kalmar Farm and Reid Angus, as well as bread and pastries from Kahiau’s Bakery and Old World Breads, and a special dessert by Chef Dru Tevis highlighting Stag Run Farm apples.
Despite the stormy weather, 150 friends of the market gathered at the Lewes Yacht Club to enjoy seasonal flavors, toast to 20 market seasons, commemorate HLFM milestones over the last two decades, and appreciate the incredible plein air art painted at the market this summer. The Farmers Market Plein Air Art Exhibition featured 11 paintings by local artists Beth Clark, Kathy Connelly, Carol Dixon, Nancy Friedman, Laura Hickman, Kathy Huegel, Charlotte Hughes, Judith Showell Loeber and Cindy Strouse.
Sunday’s brunch event was sponsored by The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, which also sponsors the Historic Lewes Farmers Market as Market Champion. The HLFM thanks The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, a part of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty, for their strong commitment to the mission of supporting farmers and feeding the community, and for celebrating this momentous milestone for the HLFM.
At this celebration, the HLFM recognized some significant milestones of its work supporting local small farmers and bringing fresh food to more people in the community. Over 20 seasons, the HLFM has had 643 Saturday and Wednesday markets, 823,784 customer visits to the market, and 6,487 kids read to at Children’s Storytime at the market. By hosting more than 130 farmers and producers at the market over 20 years, and awarding 95 farmer scholarships of over $42,000, the HLFM has helped preserve 7,000 acres of farmland each year.
The HLFM SNAP Program, which began in 2013, has attracted more than 1,600 SNAP customers to the market, bringing farmers and local producers $67,000 in additional sales, including almost $32,000 of the Bonus Bucks spending that comes from the SNAP Match Program as a donation directly from the HLFM. The HLFM collected over $100,000 worth of fresh food through the Gleaning Program this year, thanks to the generosity of market farmers. In just the last five years of running the Food Pantry Purchase Program, the HLFM has purchased over $80,000 worth of fresh, local food to go directly to the Epworth UMC Food Pantry. Between April 2023 and July 2025, the HLFM was funded by the USDA through the Delaware Department of Agriculture for the Farm to Community Program, in which HLFM paid 20 farmers over $625,000 for fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, beef, pork and chicken that helped feed more than 5,000 people every week at 18 food pantries.
The Historic Lewes Farmers Market has had more than 500 volunteers, advisory board members and board members spend over 36,000 volunteer hours at the market and helping with various other HLFM events and programs these past 20 years. There is no question why the Historic Lewes Farmers Market was voted America’s Favorite Farmers Market in 2011 and has consistently been voted Delaware’s Favorite Farmers Market by the American Farmland Trust, garnering more than 15 awards overall!
For more information about the Historic Lewes Farmers Market and its mission, go to HistoricLewesFarmersMarket.org. The HLFM Saturday Fall Market continues at the Lewes Elementary School parking lot from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., every Saturday through Nov. 22, in addition to the special Holiday Market set for Saturday, Dec. 6.
