The Saranac Lake Farmers Market meets for the final time in Riverside Park on Saturday. The Keene Valley market concludes on Sunday at Marcy Field. The Lake Placid Wednesday market has already closed.

On Oct. 17 the Saranac Lake market will move to one weekly Saturday drive-up market outside the Hotel Saranac; items must be ordered online (www.ausablevalleygrangefarmersmarkets.com) by Thursday for Saturday pick-up. The “Farmers Park-It” model will run until May 31, 2021, when outdoor markets are expected to resume.

On the penultimate Saturday market at Riverside Park in Saranac Lake, farmers loaded their stands with fall produce while folks braved the intermittent rain.

Kaylyn Wood and Makenna Provost helmed the Rulfs Orchard stand, weighed down with bags of Macoun, Macintosh, Cortland and Honeycrisp apples from the Peru orchard. Jugs of cider and fruit pies filled another table, as well as peppers, chiles and eggplant.

Keith Castro, left, and his son Keagan McCormick stand behind the produce they’re selling at Juniper Hill Farm’s booth at the Saranac Lake Farmers Market Saturday in Riverside Park. (Enterprise photo — Amy Scattergood)

“It was the busiest year we’ve had,” said Provost, weighing out Macouns for a customer. “We sold over 17,000 doughnuts last weekend.” Rulfs makes cider doughnuts and has a U-pick option at its 72-year-old orchard.

Most of the other markets that Juniper Hill Farm attends finished a few weeks ago, said Keith Castro. Juniper Hill will be one of the farms transitioning to the park-it model after next week.

Right now it has “fantastic” sweet potatoes, as well as young ginger and fall squash. Juniper Hill has greens year-round, thanks to its hothouse, and also makes prepared foods such as salads, caponata, soup and risotto. It will also be doing galettes and focaccia, among other baked goods.

Fledging Crow Vegetables, an organic produce farm in Keeseville, won’t be making the transition. They’ll be doing some CSA drop-offs, said Johanna Engebrecht, who recently moved from Ohio to the Adirondacks to work on the farm.

“Our greens have been awesome,” said Engebrecht. “The spinach is really great right now.” Fledging Crow also has colorful candy-striped beets and sunchokes, which owner Ian Alter has been bringing to Saranac Lake for the first time this season.

Johanna Engebrecht helms the Fledging Crow stand at the Saranac Lake Farmers Market in Riverside Park in 2020. (Enterprise photo — Amy Scattergood)

Kate Mountain Farm near Vermontville won’t be doing the park-it market either, said farmer and owner Aaron Caiazza. “We take the winters off,” he said with a smile. (Farmers don’t take any seasons off.) If folks want Caiazza’s spring rolls and banh mi, Vietnamese-style sandwiches made from his farm’s vegetables and pork, after next Saturday “they gotta special order it,” he said. He has been thinking about opening a cart in the winter, but “I don’t know if I feel like sitting in a parking lot.”

A few feet away from Kate Mountain’s stall, Kimmy Rivera of Triple Green Jade Farm gave a customer change for a loaf of freshly baked bread. She and her husband Dan sell breads, baked goods and earthy crackers, as well as eggs from their Willsboro farm.

Rivera said they’ll be making specialty breads and cookies for the holidays, which they’ll have as well as their usual sourdough and whole grain breads at the Winter Market at the Hotel Saranac. They also mill their own wheat and can bring flour to the market if folks order it.

Nearby, the La Marzocco espresso machine at Old Mountain Coffee’s stand fired up, powered by a portable generator. After next week, Old Mountain will sell its house-made bagels at Green Goddess in Lake Placid, but if you want a cortado, you’ll have to go to its shop in Keene Valley.

Unless we can convince them — or anyone — to open up a drive-thru espresso stand outside the hotel.

Kimmy Rivera of Triple Green Jade Farm sells bread and crackers at the Saranac Lake Farmers Market Saturday in Riverside Park. (Enterprise photo — Amy Scattergood)