Seasons Greetings! We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage and to wish you and your family a Happy Holiday season. It has been an amazing journey over the last 96 years. As the end of the year draws near, we wanted to pause, reflect, and acknowledge the many tributes that we received from our extended Zerns Family and Zernie fans! May 2019 be good to you and those you hold dear.
NEW VENDOR LOCATIONS

We are happy to announce that many former vendors of Zerns Farmers Market have found new homes. Click here to visit the list of new locations for former vendors. Visit our website for updates.

I now live in Northern Iowa but between 1975 and 2002, I and then I and my wife, and then I, my wife, and son spent many Friday nights at Zerns. We lived north and west of Scranton, Pa so it was a trip but we made it at least one time each month. It was one of the things I missed when I moved to Iowa, now that its gone, there is no reason for us to move back to Pennsylvania, it was the last great thing.

We still have several items we purchased, like a hutch, a few old Zenith radios and a sack of self tapping screws, still in the original paper sack. I am sure there are still several other items around-- records, toys, etc. 

If I was still living in Pennsylvania, Zerns closing probably would have been the final blow and I would have left anyway. Thanks to the rotten internet (where I refuse to buy anything) for putting Zerns and a lot of other good places out of business.

--Ron Schacht
Iowa


Hi. My name is Robert. The Zerns Market has been a substantial part of my life, and my families lives. My Father started working at a produce stand in the market when he was very young (14,15). He was a very hard worker, and he had great people skills. After years of working at the market, he had met my mother there. She was working for Dan Shantz Greenhouses and selling flowers at the market. They eventually married and had me.

The market back in those days was like nothing you could ever imagine. Tens of thousands of people every weekend. I remember unloading 2 tractor trailers full of produce, and maybe 1000 watermelons, all to be sold at this one fruit stand in only two days! It's only open Friday and Saturday. This one fruit stand probably employed 20 people, plus made a huge profit. 

When I was about ten years old, my dad purchased the fruit stand from his boss, and became the sole proprietor of the business. Right around this time my parents got divorced. Life went on. My dad grew his business, and met his new wife at the market. She was the daughter of my father’s competition. A couple years after their marriage, her father decided to merge with my father, and create one big business. After that he retired and my dad was left with the whole business. It was good for a little while, but the writing was on the wall about the market going downhill. And its failure to grow with the times. During this time my dad and stepmom had two more children, my brothers.

The attendance at the market was steadily going downhill. After about ten more years of this my father retired from the market. Not by choice, believe me if there were still people going to the market like that used to in the 80’s and 90’s, he would still be there. He would be there yelling at the crowd of people about how sweet the watermelons are, and telling people to sample the goods., “Peaches, Pears, Oranges, Mix, and Match 2 baskets for TWOOOOOOO DOLLARS!! Get em’ while they last!

Thank you Zerns market, the atmosphere there has taught me so much about people and life. You're responsible for my life and my brothers lives, without you our parents would have never met. Plus giving me a place to interact with my father and learn from him. Thank You!

--Robert W. Pearce III



Michelle Waite wrote:

 “I have been going to Zerns since I was a child. I've been living out of state for many,many years, now married with kids of my own but every time I go back to Pennsylvania, Zerns is one of my very first stops if I happen to be there on a Friday or Saturday. It is not only a nostalgic place and a big part of my childhood but it is also like coming home for me  - - all these years later and it's one of the first places I want to go when I go back to Pennsylvania.
Glenn Kunkle in Ohio who writes about Zerns from 1948 to 1951:

“I used to work on Saturday nights with two brothers from the Philadelphia area. They were selling off the large closed panel truck they had filled with tools (Miller Falls, SK, etc.) plus other "stuff" from closed/bankrupt businesses. We always started off with a box of a dozen combs for 25 cents! We drove down from the Boyers Junction area on the Pricetown Rd out of Reading with a guy named Jim who also worked this truck. I still have my SK tool box of sockets, rachets, and drives that I bought while working there. I was 14 to16 at the time. Zerns was really a great experience and great memories. One in particular was a gentleman in an inside building subtly selling condoms and using this hawking phrase:  "What size and how many?" It certainly was progressive selling for the late 40's!









From Dee in faraway Montana:
“I practically grew up at zerns. My parents had a stand in the far end of the midway, Selling glassware and other collectibles. We waited the year or so we got under the roof outside. Zerns had the best steak sandwiches and who can forget the pink lemonade lady with those cat eye glasses. I remember buying my first 45 records for 50 cents a piece.  My film even into the 80's got developed by the camera stand at Zerns.  The swim suit for my senior class trip was purchased at Armand’s Lingerie - - the foundation stand at Zerns in 1983. My nightgown for my honeymoon was purchased there in 1986.  There was Charlie’s chips, sticky buns and the candy stands. If you’re old enough you will remember the Moxie stand. My grandmother loved that stuff. Lunch meat stands like Clover Farms or the cafeteria (Ginny’s Restaurant), - no matter what you ate there, the food was good. Let’s not forget the auctions. Friday night - - cars, Saturday- miscellaneous. Great merchandise, my next pet and fresh vegtables as well as plants. Let’s not forget Santa at Christmas.  Zerns Farmers Market was a place to work, play and catch up with family and friends.It is so sad to hear the end of an era - Zerns closing its doors. Thanks for memories.
 
DeNene Halterman Sands, aka Deefrpo from Montana 

California resident, Mr. Fred Naile , a graduate of Spring-Ford High School class of 1974, sent a great picture of him with Scott Rooney. He writes: “Both of us were from Port Providence, Pa. and remained lifelong friends.”  Home recently for a 40th class reunion, their beards flowing, they are holding a Christmas photo with Santa at Zerns taken around 1976. Fred writes:  “We spent our weekends at Zerns; we hung out at as kids all the time. I shopped almost exclusively at Zerns until I moved to California in 1979.  I always visit Zerns whenever I am in town. I vividly remember the "Mighty Atom," an old strong man who sold homemade soap and tonics outside the main entry. Too many good times, good food and good friends to list. You will be sorely missed by all whom have graced your hallowed halls.”











From Doris in Freedom, Maine:
 
I do have such fond memories of Zerns. In the back of our station wagon my parents would have pillows and blankets for the ride home as we listened to Garrison Keeler’s Prairie Home Companion show on the radio.
 
 I enjoyed the penny candy stand down on the left side of the building. My Grandmother would buy me a cactus plant from the person that sold the small cactus plants. There was a man that would sit outside the Barber Shop with joke glasses on, the part that went around the ears -like a pair of ladies legs. I always wanted a Blue Pair of Moccasins, never got them. Instead we bought a leather pocketbook in the shape of a horse saddle from Craig at Deerskin Leather. I really miss Zerns and someday hope to get back there. I have a lot more good memories: comics. Rick’s Auction,the Pet Store.  Dad would always bid on the produce. Moore’s French Fries were out of this world. I would put the Vinegar and Ketchup on them, My fingers would be a mess!

French Fries
From "Momma Schaeffer": It has been a very long time since I have been at Zern’s. I can still remember going with my parents and stopping to get fries. From there, Dad would take me around the corner for an “ice cold pineapple orange drink.” When I stop to remember those days, I can still remember the distinct sound of the lady’s voice when she called out. I would go with my grandparents to get chicken backs and necks we would use to go crabbing in Maryland. 

Re-live a fellow Zernie's pastimes, memories of characters, food, collectibles, sights, and feelings as he remembers growing up visiting Zerns. Click here to see this wonderful and moving video tribute.

Memories of Zerns by Ralph Hassel

I sit here thinking this is almost too difficult to write. That the feelings are too deep to express into words. That the memories are too many and too interwoven to recount with any justice. But I have to say something and recall some of the memories about the place that impacted my life over the past 40 years.

Thanks for the memories Zerns! It’s tough to say goodbye to the place that had a such an impact on my life. I was one of those kids that practically grew up in the market weekend after weekend for many years. Around the mid 1970’s my parents were flea market vendors at Zerns and they eventually opened up a jewelry stand on the inside of the market around the mid 80’s. That stand remains to the last day of Zerns.

As a child, I would spend every Friday evenings and all day Saturday in this market roaming around occupying my time in so many different ways. I knew every inch of that market. I had many Zerns friends who I’d meet up with there every weekend as they arrived with their parents. Many of my friends came for Rick’s Auction while others had parents that worked in the market or operated a stand somewhere in the market or just came there to shop. Many of us met up in the game room where we got good at the playing the countless games that passed through that game room over the years.

So many memories. So many friends. Rick’s Auction, where I met Rob Moser and his family of 15 with 13 kids (Al Moser worked in Ricks and so did Dave Moser his son), Matt and Jeni Evans and their parents Ed and Mickey who were a 2nd family to me for years. Ed and Mickey ran a stand in the flea market selling war memorabilia and to this day I'm still looking for a field jacket like the one Ed used to wear. I loved going to their house from Zerns Saturday night and then getting a ride home with my parents Sunday night. I did that for years. Carl Fichter, a lifelong friend who shared my last day in Zerns last Friday. Carl we had many great times at Zerns.

The laughter still echoes in my head. Rob, Jimmy, Rick, Davie, Jeff, Kelly, Dara, Sue, Yvonne, Stan, Hale, Verti, Wendy, my sisters Sharon and Bev, Tina, Heather, Stephen, Steveski, Bobby, Mike, Jamie, Wayne, Mandy, Beth, too many friends to recount them all, all good friends. The Places… Jake’s Hobby Shop, where I got hooked on the HO race car hobby and had a ton of fun building, painting, collecting and racing my collection. I spent many, many hours up at Jakes Hobby Shop in the north wing where I’d race my collection of HO scale slot cars on their awesome, huge race track. I also met countless friends in the hobby shop including Laurie Saylor, who turned me onto the rock group Rush and was a great friend who liked to talk to us “sale rats”.

I also met my dearly departed friend Wayne Tietz who had a very positive influence on me as a young impressionable teenager. Wayne, you may not know it but you kept me out of trouble just by being you. I still have some of the HO cars that you made on display in my house. Tommy “Bub” Schultz was also another regular there in the hobby shop and a good friend. And of course Jake himself, the chain-smoking good-humored old gentleman who loved us kids as we spent 50 cents for every 15 minutes on that 16 foot long, 8-lane race track.

Zimmer’s Pets, where I bought two of my dogs, Tucker and Midnight, both whom made my life so much more enjoyable. Tasty Maid, where I knew this little brown-haired lady that since I was about the age of about 8 yrs old, would give me three oatmeal cookies when I asked for two, take my money and give me back all of it except for a quarter. It was our little secret and those cookies were so good. She did that for years from the time Tasty Maid was at exit three until it moved to behind the barber shop and finally closed and became Auntie Ann’s Pretzels. The Haufbrau, where I had my regular roast beef sandwich and fries served to me by Joanna Weiser for decades.

The Lite Bite at exit two where I LOVED their chili-dogs! Zern’s Pizza and the thin crust! Yum! A steak sandwich at the steak sandwich stand went well with the fries next door. The sauteed mushrooms were a great weekend treat. The Five and Dime where I bought stupid stuff like comb’s and key chains, a few of which I still own today. The indoor flea market where my Dad got his start in Zerns about 40 years ago.

The Penny Candy Stand at the end of the market where I bought a bag full of penny candy for a dollar and snacked on it all day. Sammy who sold the patches, my dads good friend. Jimmy the one-handed guy who sold the used work wear out on the midway, another of my dads dear friends. Bill Billman who sold the touch lamps, again another of my dads dear friends. The JAM PACKED Midway where people set up tables full of flea market stuff and where I bought another one of my many dogs Rex from a guy named Willie. Also where I had my first job, working for the shooting gallery at exit 3 filling lead shot BB’s into the tubes that loaded the air rifles that people used to try and shoot out the red star for a prize. I got good at that carnival game and later won prizes easily at carnivals elsewhere. The game room where “Pop’s” would make change for us kids and where I developed a love for pinball and the 1980’s arcade game craze. Pacman, Asteroids, Dig-Dug, Defender, Mr. Do, Tempest, Galaga, Galaxian, Super Pacman, Space Invaders, Star Castle, I was there for the beginning of that digital arcade game craze. Pinball games like Gridiron that Carl and I would rack up a dozen games on and give them all to some ecstatic kid because we got bored.

The game room was flanked by Rick’s Auction and it blended a mix of arcade and pinball bells, buzzes, pops and sounds with Rick’s rhythmic auctioneer voice over the buzz of the crowd. Marie’s Stained Glass where us kids hung out and had fun. To this day there is a hundred plus spitballs on the ceiling above that stand that came from us kids 35 years ago. The peanut stand where the smell and sound of roasting peanuts filled the air. Brian at Brian’s Optical, a good friend of the family. Pat who sold small tools and parts out in the indoor flea market, you helped me build many projects Pat. The animal auction and the car auction, where I wandered around in fascination and where I sometimes sat up in the bleachers shooting wet spitballs at unsuspecting people (Sorry!). The Car Auction is where I tasted my first beer. My friend Rob and I found a warm can of Budweiser next to the car auction. We opened it, tasted it and spit it out saying How can people drink this crap! We put the can up on a windowsill to see how long it would stay up there and it was there for a couple of months before we stopped checking.

Schmitty down in the lower part of the flea market who always had cool stuff for sale at prices way too high! I never bought anything from you Schmitty because you wanted too much! Ed the Beer sign guy, I loved your stand! So bright and cheerful! And we loved your little dog too! Jimmy and Rose Robinson who cleaned the men's and ladies rooms weekend after weekend. You were always cheerful and happy and loved to talk, we all loved you guys. Ice cold Pineapple Orange Drink and the two wonderful ladies with the wild glasses who sold their delicious drink. The Joke Stand where I’d buy my gadgets and jokes. The knife stand where the swords scared the crap out of me. The gun shop where I bought my first handgun, one that I still have and treasure. Ryan’s Antiques in the north wing, I delivered the Mercury newspapers to his house and sometimes collected the money from him at the market. The Record Stand where I’d buy my 45’s and later the cassettes that I played so much I wore them out. Carr’s Seafood where a good fish sandwich with loads of Catsup hit the spot! Zimmer’s Camera Shop was the place where I got my first 35mm camera. The Spice Shop where I restocked my spices when I became an adult.

The Snowcones and Cotton Candy stand at exit two! I can still smell the sweet aroma of spinning cotton candy. That smell blends with the excitement of looking at the Joke stand in my head. The farmers who lined the midway with spring plants. Merkel’s shoe store where I bought some great work boots and a few pairs of one-off kids shoes. Rose Zerby and her smoke shop who employed my sisters for a time and was always happy to see us. Jerry the Ginsu Knife sales guy who had a great entertaining presentation.

I always tried to get up near the front so you could squeeze the orange drink into my mouth! Harry who sold the fake fur, Frank the Tool Guy, the smell of kerosene heaters in the winter in the outdoor flea market. The Army clothing surplus store in the north wing where a few of us kids bought WWII Eisenhower Jackets and painted rock group logo’s on the back! VH! I can’t forget to mention Wilbur Hoffer, aka the man with the lady leg sunglasses who sat at the barber shop looking at people who looked back at him with the strangest looks!

When us kids grew into teens, we still met at Zerns and ventured out into Boyertown where we would walk up to the State Theater to catch a movie and then have to rush back to Zerns so we wouldn’t miss our rides home. Zerns was also a staging place for our walk into Boyertown to watch the Boyertown Halloween Parade. We all loved the market. It was the place to go on the weekend.

When I became a married adult, we’d drive to Zerns for our produce and meats and to an occasional Flea market find. And of course to come to see my parents Ralph and Lois Hassel at Beverly’s Jewelry at exit 4. Their stand was always a place I could call home in the market. Thank you Dad for giving me a love for the flea markets. Thank you for taking me to all of the markets, sales, bazaars and flea markets throughout my childhood. Thank you for giving me the freedom to explore Zerns all those early years.

I really didn’t understand how much this market had become a part of my life until I visited Zerns for the last time before it closed its doors forever September 29th, 2018. A long walk through the market opened a flood of memories for both Carl and I. So many subtle memories came back, like that banging sound of a steel plate at the entrance to Rick’s Auction, next to the game room. That sound we heard over and over burned a memory into us that we never really thought about until that last day.

Zern’s you will be sorely missed. The sadness runs through me but so do the good memories that I am grateful to remember. I can still look back today and see the ties to my current life that were directly connected to Zerns. The sights, sounds, smells of the market, the people, the friends, the memories. It was a snapshot of life in Pennsylvania and a big part of this kid’s history. My life would not be what it is today if it were not for Zerns. The people that I made connections with back then still influence my life today. Zern’s you will live on in my memories.

Zerns Farmers Market | www.zerns.com
Phone: 610-367-2461
Copyright Zerns Famers Market 2018