Hope Farmers Market & Retro Bizarro

Usually, I dread going grocery shopping. But I always look forward to strolling the offerings at any of our local farmers markets. In Austin, our big farmers markets are on Saturday morning. I don't know if you're like me, but Saturday morning is my GET STUFF DONE day. Lately, I've been working too much on a big project, so getting to the Saturday morning markets is a long shot.

But now, we have a Sunday market. The Hope Farmers Market is in East Austin at East 5th and Waller. It runs from 11am - 3pm, so you don't have to race out of bed in the morning to get there. (Can I hear an amen, brothers and sisters?!?)



The market is a project of the HOPE — Helping Other People Everywhere Campaign. HOPE is an "energy-conscious non-profit focused on involving artists and their contributions in campaigns, programs and events to support existing social projects that promote education and peace around the world." You can learn more about them here.

So expect to see not only farmers and food vendors, but also local artisans and community groups among the tents and tables.



One of the vendors I wanted to check out was Retro Bizarro. They make old school snack cakes and candies from scratch with local sustainable ingredients. Check out their table at the market where you can sample their treats. This is such a great idea! They take the guilty pleasure favorites we all grew up with and transform them with quality ingredients — elevating them to gourmet treat status.


Last week, we tried their chocolate saucers and yurtle bizarro bars - to which they had added some Cornucopia popcorn. This is my new food infatuation. These things are like candy crack!

Here are some samples from their current menu:
• saucers: chocolate snack cakes with fillings like Big Red frosting
• snickie: the ultimate snickerdoodle snack cake with cinnamon cream
• yurtle bizarro bar: candied pecans with honeyed caramel and dipped in chocolate
• porky bizarro bar: bacon jam on cocoa nib shortbread dipped in chocolate



Retro Bizarro is brought to you by Omni pastry chef Mike Joyner and his wife, Amanda. Find them Sundays at the market or for a real snack cake emergency, you can place an order with them by phone at 512-547-7336 and they said they'll even deliver!


Hope Farmers Market
East 5th & Waller
Sundays, 11am - 3pm

Retro Bizarro
512.547.7336