More Re Last Downtown Longmont Market For The Season

More news about tonight's final Boulder Farmers' Market in downtown Longmont for the season. It will include a party as previously noted and will also close an hour earlier, probably since everybody will be heading to the party. Also news is that you can get a BOGO beer coupon from Left Hand Brewing at the market with proof of purchase. Here are the details:

This Wednesday will be the final Downtown Longmont Farmers' Market of the season. We hope you'll join us at the market from 4-7pm (we're ending an hour early) for fresh food, live music, DIY thank you cards for our vendors and a collaborative art project. 

A celebration will follow at Left Hand Brewing Company from 7 to 9pm. Don't forget to bring your 'buy one get one free' beer coupon that you can receive at the market info booth with proof of purchase from the market. The coupons have been given out all season and will expire on 9/24. We will raise a glass to the all of the hard work put into making this farmers' market happen this year and to the future of our local agriculture. Underage folks are welcome to the brewery as well! There are non-alcoholic drinks available, and there will be a food truck. 

We would like the chance to thank you all on Wednesday, and it would mean a great deal to see you there. Let's close out the season with the best market day yet! The Longmont Farmers' Market at the Fairgrounds on Saturdays will be continuing through November 1. We hope you will join us there! 

Lucky's Market Opens In Longmont With Great Deals

The new Lucky's Market opened yesterday in Longmont, and do they ever know how to through a grand opening sale.  It runs through August 21st, and since the sale flyer says "Longmont's independent grocery store," I'd assume they are only applicable there, and not at the north Boulder store.

The most stupendous of the deals to me is boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.87 a pound.  This would be a stunning sale anywhere I shop, but the thing that makes it jaw-dropping is that Lucky's has a "never, ever" policy for their meats, so unlike another natural store I can think of, we're assured that these super low-priced chicken breasts are antibiotic free and humanely processed, in addition to having no preservatives.  Nitrate-free house-cured bacon is $5.99 a pound, pork shoulder is $1.99 a pound, and top sirloin steak is $5.99 a pound, again with those high standards.  They also have beef London broil and pork baby back ribs both at $2.99 a pound, same price as Sprouts this week.  Their fish section struck me as a little small for the size of the store, but maybe that's a function of having scoped out their clientele.  The special there that really struck me is wild harvested jumbo shrimp (16-20 count) for $7.99 a pound, and the sign when I was there yesterday said these are Gulf shrimp. They also have crab cakes for $2 each.  I'd already outlined my menus for next week based on what I'd seen from Whole Foods and Sprouts yesterday morning, but these specials have me red-lining out many of those plans.

Being Lucky's, organic produce is particularly strong.  Green bell peppers (part of the "dirty dozen" that I prefer only in organic) are spectacularly low at 25 cents each (update - my goof, they are local but not organic), collard greens are 88 cents a bunch, and those are both local!  It doesn't say local, but organic bunched broccoli is also great at 99 cents a pound.  Other organic produce includes bananas just 50 cents a pound, avocados 77 cents each, and red and green leaf lettuce 88 cents a head (they do have organic local for a great $1.19 also, but I couldn't find signage to distinguish what the pile in front of me was - understandably a few bugs still to work out),

Elsewhere in the store, there are also tremendous bargains.  My favorite Cascade Fresh yogurts are three for $1, when I hope to find them for 79 cents and have had to pay as much as 99 cents each.  Select half quarts of Organic Valley milk are $2.50, and 16 ounce Cascade Fresh sour cream is just 99 cents each.  In frozen, Amy's burritos are practically being given away at $1.25 each. Cheese is also getting into the knockout punch act, with Italian parmigiano reggiano (the real stuff that usually runs more like $17) just $9.99 a pound, and BelGioioso fresh mozzarella is good at $2.50 for a half pound cup.

Other specials really catching my eye include at least eight types of organic bulk coffee at $6.99 a pound, Clif bars as low as I've ever seen them at 79 cents each, six ounce boxes of Annie's mac and cheese for 89 cents (I haven't seen those anywhere near under a dollar for years), five ounce bags of Boulder Canyon potato chips $1 each, and a line drive on Lucky's own line of vitamins and supplements, all at 30% off.  Also, some Udi's local artisan breads are just $2 a 14 ounce loaf, and in their prepared foods (very tempting!), they have a rotisserie chicken that will be $6.99 each everyday!

So I'd highly recommend checking out this place if it's at all within range for you.  It was already quite crowded and festive on its opening day, with freshly prepared sushi and several types of cheese being sampled, and the grand opening celebration actually isn't until this weekend!

New Longmont Sprouts Looking Fine

So the new Sprouts in Longmont (on the west side of Hover Road just a bit north of the Diagonal) opened this past Wednesday, and I've already had a couple of chances to check it out.  I'm liking the layout, which seems considerably larger than our Boulder Sprouts on Baseline, and probably also larger than the former Sunflower, although that one's trickier to assess because of its two-tier floorplan.  Offerings seem pretty similar to what we see in Boulder, with some exceptions.  Organic produce has always varied in Boulder, with the former Sunflower having more organic produce power (IMHO) than the original Baseline Sprouts.  While it's still not Whole Foods for breadth of options, I think the new Longmont Sprouts possibly edges out our former Sunflower, and definitely wallops our original Sprouts.  The Longmont location also offers a very active fresh sushi counter, with sushi staff concocting samples as quickly as shoppers could scarf them up.  But our original Baseline Sprouts reigns supreme on at least one front:  it has the certified Fair Trade organic coffee (including decaf) under the Sprouts name that neither our former Sunflower nor the new Longmont store carries.  I mentioned it to the coffee guy in Longmont, who seemed very interested in adding it.

I visited the Longmont store on opening day and also yesterday.  While it was pretty much a zoo on both days, the staff was doing a remarkable job of keeping everything together, from stocking to cashiering.  Samples were liberally distributed around the store, although I'd expect that to end once the opening fever has passed.  They were also giving away reusable bags to pack all your purchases in, including yesterday, when I was expecting one free bag for opening day only.  One of the bags I was given yesterday had a hole in it, but that's also happened to me at Whole Foods.  I guess the moral of that story is to keep collecting those bags, as some of them will barely make it through their first trip home.

Sprouts Opening In Longmont Wednesday

The natural foods trend will continue to march eastward in Boulder County when Sprouts opens its long-awaited new store in Longmont this Wednesday, the 2nd, open daily from 7 am to 10 pm.  In addition to prize eligibility (with email sign-up), they'll be giving out free reusable shopping bags with purchase while supplies last (like I need another bag, but who can resist?), and the first 300 customers to make a purchase will receive a coupon booklet for five free sandwiches.  The store is at 1101 S. Hover Street, which I think is the location that used to be Borders bookstore.  This will be pretty handy for me, as I pass near that location fairly frequently, while the Vitamin Cottage in Longmont, while much roomier than the Boulder one, has generally been too far north for me.  More natural food options!