The Westport Farmers' Market closed out its 20th summer at 50 Imperial Avenue in late October. In a farewell post dated October 28, the market called that week the "last Thursday in our summer home." The winter season runs from Thursday, November 5, through March 11 in the three heated greenhouses at Gilbertie's Herbs & Garden Center on Sylvan Lane.
The winter site is a family growing operation that came to Westport decades before the market existed, and it helped create the winter season. From November through March, the market sets up on the oldest ground in its calendar.
Older Than the Market by Most of a Century
Gilbertie's gives its address as 7 Sylvan Lane, Westport, and its own store page describes it as "established in 1922," fourth-generation and family-owned. According to the Westport Journal's centennial profile, the land itself goes back further. Sal Gilbertie's father bought the Westport property in 1919, and the family built its own greenhouses there. That 2022 piece identifies 7 Sylvan Lane as the site of the farmhouse and garden store.
The winter market was partly built at Gilbertie's. The garden center says its general manager helped develop the Winter Farmers' Market there in 2011. Carrie Gilbertie, a fourth-generation family member, has worked at the business since 1997.
Here is how the two histories line up:
| Year | At 7 Sylvan Lane | At the market |
|---|---|---|
| 1919 | Gilbertie family buys the Westport property | |
| 1922 | Gilbertie's dates its establishment to this year | |
| 2006 | Market founded; first held in the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot | |
| 2011 | Winter market developed at the garden center | Market gains a cold-weather season |
| 2026 | Winter market returns November 5 | 20th summer season ends at 50 Imperial Avenue |
Gilbertie's also sells certified organic herbs and vegetables, and its store page lists Christmas trees and holiday décor among its offerings. In November and December, a Thursday trip to the market and a trip for holiday greens can happen at the same address.
The Schedule Under Glass
The winter rhythm is a little different from summer. The summer market ran on Thursdays only. The winter market adds one Saturday a month. Per the market's announcement and 06880's October 28 report, it runs:
- Every Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- The first Saturday of each month, same hours. Those Saturdays fall on November 7, December 5, January 2, February 6 and March 6.
- Through March 11, the final Thursday of the winter season.
The market says shoppers will find local seasonal produce, prepared food, "more programming," and heating throughout the winter. It also says it will "pick up right where we left off with all your favorite vendors." In announcing the move, 06880 described the winter market as "not a scaled-back version of the summer season" and quoted executive director Lori Cochran-Dougall:
"Fresh, local food doesn't take a winter break — and neither do we. The winter market is one of my favorite things. There is something special about walking into those warm greenhouses on a cold morning, and watching the community gather around good food when the rest of the world has gone quiet."
What a Winter Thursday Has Looked Like
The best picture of the greenhouse market comes from an earlier winter. In February 2025, the Westport Journal visited the winter market and found a lineup that went well beyond a produce stand:
- Fatto a Mano, baked goods
- Nit Noi, ramen, with a line at its stand
- Edgewise Kitchen, knife sharpening at the booth
- Herbal Deva, organic teas and homemade elderberry syrup
- Sprout Raw Juice, fresh-pressed juices, elixirs and tonics
- Espalier, soaps and lotions made with organic ingredients
That was the lineup two winters ago. The market's year-round directory also lists farms such as Fort Hill Farm and Riverbank Farm for vegetables, Seacoast Mushrooms, and Oceans180 for fish and shellfish. A bowl of ramen and a sharpened chef's knife from the same February visit fit a market built for cold-weather errands.
The 20th Year Comes Inside With It
The scale of the market explains why it does not shut down for the winter. Paul Newman and chef Michel Nischan founded it in 2006 in connection with their restaurant, The Dressing Room. Westport Journal reported that the first market drew 14 vendors and about 500 customers to the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot. By its 20th season, it had more than 50 vendors and thousands of customers over the course of a summer. Along the way, it grew from an offshoot of a restaurant into an independent nonprofit.
The anniversary year brought recognition from Washington. On September 10, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal visited the market and presented a Certificate of Special Recognition for "20 years of increasing awareness, knowledge & support for local farmers and food producers," Westport Journal reported. June's anniversary week added a 20-Year Passport Program: shoppers who collected stamps at eight vendors could choose a free item. The Imperial Avenue lot also got a restroom this year. In its season farewell, the market welcomed the new bathroom by name: "Girdie."
The programs that do not depend on a parking lot continue through the winter.
- Fueling Creativity. The market supplies fresh local farm ingredients each week to Norwalk Art Space Café, which serves healthy meals to students ages 9 to 18 alongside tutoring and art classes. The market describes the program as "now running year-round." 06880 reported the launch in August and named chef Caitlin McGowan and café baker and manager Kelly Clement as the people preparing the meals.
- Staples High School's Culinary Arts Program. Students cook meals for the Gillespie Center using ingredients from the market.
- Food Rescue US. The organization collects fresh, unsold food from vendors and distributes it to people in need across Fairfield County.
When vendors stay open through the winter, those weekly ingredient flows can keep going too. A market that closed in November would leave the Art Space kitchen without its supply until May.
Four Months on Sylvan Lane
From November 5 to March 11, the greenhouse season covers 19 Thursdays plus five first Saturdays. The summer season at Imperial Avenue began May 7. For a little over four months, Westport's farmers' market sits on ground the Gilbertie family has worked since 1919. It is the one stretch of the market's calendar when food is sold under the same glass where a family business has grown plants for more than a hundred years.
The next first-Saturday market is December 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Gilbertie's Herbs & Garden Center, 7 Sylvan Lane.
Kate Cacciatore follows the places that set Westport's weekly rhythm, from a summer lot on Imperial Avenue to a century-old greenhouse on Sylvan Lane. If you're weighing a move and want to know what your Westport home is worth in that context, request a Confidential Home Valuation and we can talk it through quietly.