Smithfield Farmers Market — Local services in Smithfield

This review is exclusively for the Smithfield Farmers Market, not Main Street, not the surrounding areas. Smithfield Farmers Market is not a farmers market, it is a craft and drop/ship market. Out of all the vendors available on the day we went, only three sold anything remotely resembling items derived from a farm. To detail, there was one truck selling herbs and potted vegetables, there was a table selling mushrooms, and a small stand selling dairy, eggs, and meat, an additional table tucked towards the back sold bread. The market should not be advertised as a Farmers Market in any way. Although this review is specifically for this market, this seems to have become the norm with other "farmers" markets as well. That being said, the positives and the only reason this received two stars after a half an hour drive to the location, was because the parking was comfortable and plentiful, the live music was lovely and the layout was easy to navigate (in all of five minutes). I understand that vendors are posted on the website etc., a fact I discovered after attending and being very confused as to the "farmers" part of the name. Never the less, this should not in any way be viewed as a farmers market, rather a market for anyone to sell anything with some farm product available. If you are looking to enjoy the day and have a lovely walk and have no intentions of vegetable shopping then this market is for you. If, like myself, you are looking for farm produce, vegetables, fruits, and the like then...

I ordered the ham and sweet potato rolls. We could not eat the ham due to the saltiness of the product. When I contacted customer service I was offered 20% off on my next order. I did not feel that this 20% discount was satisfactory, based the fact, that on their website, every customer gets 20% off currently. We will have to throw out the product. The customer service representative Linda, was rude and laughed at me when I offered to send the product back, proving we were unable to consume it. She she later insulted me by telling me that anyone who knows anything about salt cured ham, understands that the product is salty. Salty is one thing, inedible, is quite another. I will not be ordering anything from this...

This is a nice farmer's market that I've been to multiple times. There is a decent variety of sellers there. I find that some sellers are less than friendly (i.e. the wax melt ladies) but most are very pleasant. I love that it is very dog friendly but I've had 2 different experiences where parents are leaving their toddlers in charge of holding their large dog's leash and the dog ends up going after my chihuahua. I can no longer bring my dog because of this. I also bought some peaches here just last weekend and found once I got home that the ones on the bottom of the quart container are store-bought. They had scan stickers on them. This was very disappointing. Due to these experiences, I rarely visit...