Our Roots at the Riverdale Park Farmers Market

Long before our smokehouse had its own walls and rhythm, we spent our Thursdays under a small tent at the Riverdale Park Farmers Market.

Since 1998, the market has been a steady gathering place for the community, built around a simple idea. Keep food close to home. Support the people who grow it. Give neighbors a place to meet the farmers, bakers, and makers who feed the region week after week.

Every Thursday afternoon, from 3:00 to 7:00 PM, the market opens its aisles to the community. Tables fill with seasonal vegetables, fresh fruit, bread still warm from the oven, and the small conversations that make a town feel connected. It is a rhythm that has carried through the years, even through colder months and uncertain times, helping local farms stay viable while keeping fresh food accessible to the people who live nearby.

‍

For us, that place is personal.

Toward the end of 2019, before most people had heard of us, 2fifty began cooking at the market. We were still learning the rhythm of our smoker, waking up early to light the fire and bringing trays of barbecue to Riverdale Park, hoping the brisket would be ready when the first guests arrived.

The community showed up quickly. People who came for vegetables, bread, and fruit would follow the smell of oak smoke across the market. Those Thursdays became part of our beginning.

When 2020 arrived and the pandemic changed daily life for everyone, the market continued serving the community. Farmers kept harvesting. Vendors kept setting up their tables. Families kept coming through, looking for food they could trust and people they recognized.

We kept cooking there through that time.

The relationship never stopped.

Many of the vegetables and fruits we cook with today still come from farmers we first met at that market. Some of our vendors are people who continue to bring their harvest to Riverdale Park every week. The market remains one of the quiet engines behind the region’s food culture, supporting small farms while keeping real food close to home.

Barbecue teaches patience. You learn that good food begins long before the smoker is lit. It begins in the soil, in the hands of farmers, and in communities that choose to support them.

If you visit the smokehouse this week, there is a good chance something on your tray started with a farmer who still sets up a table at the Riverdale Park Farmers Market on a Thursday afternoon.

And that connection still means a great deal to us.

‍