The crowds are bustling and the vendors are hustling. The regulars are making their way to their favorite spots to ogle the day’s offerings and make their selections. Some sales are swift, while others come with a handshake, a pat on the back and a conversation that seems more like a dialogue between friends than a transaction between seller and customer. If you’re a first-time visitor to this vibrant community within a community, you may be wondering where to begin, but never fear: Here’s everything you need to know about mastering the market.
Our tour guide was the unofficial mayor of the place: Bill Steele, owner of Mr. Bill’s Poultry Market, who started working at the market when he was a teenager in the late 1960s. It’s not exaggeration to say he knows the first-name of every vendor in the place, and a lot of the customers, too.
