A Spotlight reporter dropped by the Vizcaya Village Farmers Market on a recent Sunday to check out the vibe. Here’s what she found.
The Vizcaya Village Farmers Market is not your typical farmers market.
For starters, it takes place inside the grounds of the historic Vizcaya Village on South Miami Avenue in Coconut Grove, so it feels like you’ve been transported back in time to a simpler, less hurried way of life.
You’re surrounded by buildings inspired by 18th-century Italian villas – buildings that hold an important part of Miami’s history within their walls.
Vizcaya Village was built over a century ago alongside Vizcaya’s Main House, where industrialist James Deering spent his winters. The village was a working farm, with gardens and greenhouses, a dairy barn and a chicken house.
On weekends, Deering would open the village and sell the garden’s produce to the public, according to Vizcaya’s records. That tradition inspired Vizcaya Museum & Gardens to open today’s market nearly six years ago.
So, what’s it like to stroll the market’s winding paths on a Sunday morning, and who are you likely to meet along the way? Here are some of the folks I talked to on a recent Sunday, starting with…
Art Friedrich, executive director of Urban Oasis Project
Friedrich has been selling produce at the market since the beginning. “What’s really special about (this place) is that Vizcaya ran the first farm that fed Miami. All of this used to be farm,” he told me.
Read more: The Village that Fed Vizcaya
Urban Oasis Project has been around for 16 years. Friedrich and his team buy organic produce from local and out-of-state farms and sell to the public. On Saturdays, you can find him at Legion Park in the MiMo District on Biscayne Boulevard.
What he likes about this market: “It’s a different vibe and parking is much easier,” he said. He added, “we’ve got more tables and people hang out for a long time.”
Monica Chavez, owner of Udder Glow
Chavez has been selling her grass-fed, tallow-based skincare products at the market for the past few months. “This market is amazing,” she said. “There are new faces all the time and there are also locals who come by every weekend. All the vendors are super friendly.”
Chavez started her company three years ago. Prior to Vizcaya, she was a vendor at the Palmetto Bay Farmers Market. “I sell everything skincare, made with beef tallow, like whipped body butters, sunscreen, lip balm, oils, soaps and deodorants,” she said. “I’ve got a little bit of everything.”
Yolyanko William, artist
William is an artist who specializes in Hatha yoga art. He likes the market because “you can meet people from other countries and cultures and it’s a good way for people to connect with local artists.”
William said participants from the market’s yoga classes (Sundays at 9:30 a.m. for a $5 fee) connect with his art, much of which shows human bodies in different positions and movements. “Art is in everything, in every place,” he said.
Domitille and Marie-Claire Lochet, market customers
“I’m here to compost my vegetable and fruit peels and coffee grinds,” Domitille Lochet told me. Large pink compost bins can be found by the market’s entrance. “It’s a free program so we’re going to start doing this weekly now,” Lochet said.
She and her sister rode the Metrorail to reach the market. “We bought a lot of mushrooms, they’re on sale right now,” Marie-Claire Lochet said. “They have a surplus, so they’re 20% off,” she added as she led me to the sign, which indeed confirmed the deal.
“I like this farmers market because it’s accessible through public transportation,” she told me. “It’s a nice way to not have to use a car and to save some money.”
She purchased a plant growing out of a large seashell from The Living Truck Miami, which is a truck that’s outfitted with plants for sale.
Elliot Vrana, owner of The Living Truck Miami
Vrana grows produce and sells it to Urban Oasis and other clients. He takes pride in growing varieties of lettuce, “weird herbs,” and spicy mustard, among other types of produce at Cooper’s Farm, his backyard farm in Westchester.
“I grew up coming here and I remember when the Museum of Science was over there,” he said, nodding toward the direction of where the museum stood for 55 years.
Vizcaya’s market “is produce-forward and local forward, so I like that.”
He’s been a vendor here for just over a year.
Walter Chefitz and Adena Ellenby, owners of LNB Grovestand
If you’re a regular at the market, you’ve definitely seen people walking around with rainbow smoothies, which are drinkable works of art with layers of fruit in vibrant colors.
“It’s Miami in a cup. It’s all the fruits we grow,” Chefitz said, adding “it’s chef driven” – crediting his wife, Ellenby, who is a chef.
Inside the rainbow layers are a blend of bananas, beets, roselle, sapodilla, mamey, passionfruit, kale, ginger, jackfruit and papaya.
Chefitz and Ellenby are new to the market (since February) but they have a long history in Miami. They help to run a 150-acre farm in the Redland that has been in Ellenby’s family for generations.
The pair has a cult following for their organic smoothies and their “24 Karat” bagels, which have a full shot of turmeric concentrate and are served with a scallion-black pepper cream cheese. They also sell turmeric concentrate.
They keep the menu simple by offering just those items.
“It’s super easy to choose,” Chefitz said.
“We’ve been doing this for over 15 years,” said Chefitz, who grew up in the Grove, saying that they sold their products at a stand in Kendall, and then at the Pinecrest Village Farmers Market for 10 years.
“This is my favorite farmers market in Miami,” he said. “The people who run it really care about the customers, the vendors, the atmosphere, and taking care of everyone.”
Marie Grimes, farmers market aficionado
Grimes ordered a rainbow smoothie and a “24 Karat” bagel. She described herself and her daughter as farmers market enthusiasts. “We go around and check out farmers markets,” she said. “We’re going to have lunch here and browse around and see what draws our interest,” she said.
“It’s amazing – very refreshing,” she said of her rainbow smoothie. And the bagel? “I’m trying it for the first time,” she said with a smile.
Crystal Davis, repeat customer
Davis was visiting the market for the fifth consecutive week. She’s a fan of rainbow smoothies, the sugar cane juice that a nearby vendor sells, and the market’s hair-care and skincare products. “It’s more intimate and the vendors are more personable,” she said of the market. “I’ve built friendships with some of them already,” she added. “They remember us and our names.”
Wanderson Oliveira, the owner of Dolce Mio
Oliveira and Sicilian chef Giovanni Mineo specialize in pastas, Italian coffee and tiramisu. “We started our company about two years ago and this was the very first market we wanted to try,” Oliveira said. “This location has been so wonderful to us.”
Jerry Hogu, owner of Wholly Smoke Bar-Q
As one of the market’s only meat vendors, Hogu has been slinging brisket and ribs on site for five years. “We’re the meat guys,” he said proudly. “Not a lot of people expect that, but we’re here.” He likes the market’s vibe – “beautiful people, good energy” – and he’s open to winning new customers. “I get “eyes” from the vegan people, but it’s okay,” he said, chuckling. “Once you’re ready to come to the meat side, I’m here.”
Emma Sotillo, volunteer tour guide
Sotillo led a guided tour at 11 a.m. on the day I visited. She was passionate and informative as she passed around old photos of Vizcaya and talked about the porous limestone that Bahamian immigrants used to build the sturdy structures.
The guided tours cost $6 and are available at 11:00 a.m. every Sunday.
As a rooster crowed in the background, not far from a massive banyan tree, she explained how the tours help visitors see Vizcaya’s past while envisioning its future.
The village has 11 architecturally significant buildings on 12 acres. Vizcaya is restoring those buildings to showcase the village’s history and add new programming.
“The superintendent’s house is now the Vizcaya Village Café and the farmhouse is going to become a place for archives. The chicken coop will become a curator’s office and an artisan residence. Every building will have a purpose,” Sotillo said.
Rachel Pinzur, a visitor on the guided tour
Small world! I’ve been corresponding via email with Rachel (of Pinzur Communications in Miami) for over a decade, and here she was, on the same guided tour with me. Here’s what she thought of Vizcaya:
“I was really fascinated, learning from Emma today, how Vizcaya is evolving,” she said.
She added that the restoration plans to activate the buildings as community spaces “excites me because I still feel that something we’re missing is that sense of community, so I’m definitely excited to be able to experience more of Vizcaya in the coming years.”
María Carla Chicuén, Vizcaya’s chief strategy and collaboration officer
“The Vizcaya Village Farmers Market is a living continuation of Vizcaya’s story — one that has always been rooted in community,” Chicuén said.
“James Deering himself opened the Village to neighbors and shared what the land produced, and that spirit endures every Sunday on those same grounds,” she added.
“Whether you’re browsing local vendors, joining a yoga class, or getting your hands dirty in one of our gardening or artmaking workshops, the market is a place to slow down, connect, and feel at home — right here in the heart of Miami.”
The Vizcaya Village Farmers Market at 3250 South Miami Ave. in Coconut Grove is open every Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (summer hours) and on the second Thursday of the month from 5 to 9 p.m. Admission and parking are free. For information, visit https://vizcaya.org/market/
