Mid-Michigan Dining

• 2934 Russell Street
• Detroit, MI 48207
• (313) 833-9300
• Website

The Eastern Market in Detroit

Saturday, February 28th was a big day for J and I.  We delayed our Valentine’s Day celebration by a couple weeks because of a concert in Windsor.  I got J tickets to see Miranda Lambert and in return, she got reservations to Roast in Detroit for me.  When the day finally came, both of us were anxious.  We had been looking forward to this day for so long, it was hard to sit still.  Early in the day, we decided we just needed to leave and go to Detroit even though our reservations weren’t until 6:15.  To kill time, J suggested we check out the Eastern Market.

The Eastern Market is on Russell street.  It’s the oldest public market district in the United States.  Since it’s still winter, things weren’t as crazy as they probably are in the summer.  We got to Detroit just before 4:00.  Since we didn’t really know what was going on, I parked in the first place I found.  During the winter, the market is in Shed 5 which was a two block walk from where we were.  We didn’t know that when we started walking, but I saw signs pointing us that way.  It was cold and windy and it made the walk brutal.  I should have just moved the car, but I didn’t know any better.

Shed 5 at the Eastern Market during the winter

When we got to Shed 5, we found exactly what we figured we’d find.  A Farmer’s Market.  There weren’t a whole lot of vendors, but again, it was winter and it was late in the day.  We took a quick loop around  to see what was there.  We weren’t going to be heading home for another eight hours, so buying anything perishable was out of the questions…which sucks because there was some tasty looking pork products right when we walked in.

The atmosphere at the Market reminded me of something I had only seen in movies.  It was a very fast paced buying and selling environment.  People were pulling crates of tomatoes off trucks and people were almost fighting over them.  It was actually kind of wild. 

The Winter Market wasn’t really worth the trip to us.  I know there’s more to the Eastern Market than what we actually saw, but because of the weather, we didn’t get to brave and explore the shops in the area.  We’ll have to check back in the summer.  I’m sure the place is amazing.  Just looking at all the vendor space raised my curiosity level.  One week, we’ll get our butts out of bed and head to Detroit to see the “real” Eastern Market.