Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Unique handcrafted items, freshly baked goods, specialty foods, and a wide range of locally grown vegetables for the sampling... Where else can you find all this but at the Puerto Vallarta Old Town Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings from 9:30 am to 2 pm?

In keeping with the philosophy of "make it, bake it, grow it," the Old Town Farmers Market / Tianguis Cultural is "a producer only" Market - all the products are made, baked, grown and sold by Vendors, all whom live within 50 kilometers of Puerto Vallarta.

Now in its' third season, the Market provides local fresh farm produce, artisan foods, handmade crafts, jewelry, clothing, community education and live entertainment to locals and tourists from the entire Bay of Banderas region.

Who doesn't love wonderfully fresh baked breads? You'll need to get to the market early if you want to take home one of these loaves as Natasha Moraga sells out pretty quickly. The breads available at the market include sourdough (from 20-year old mother dough), multi-grain, whole wheat and country (rye, white and wheat flours).

This family-owned business has been making these breads using family recipes for the past six years in their Bucerías bakery. In addition to loaves of bread, you can purchase ciabatta with sun dried tomatoes, olives, onions or jalapeno; croissants, bagels, filone (Italian bread) and cinnamon rolls... all wonderful. You can also enjoy these delicious breads at her local café, La Ciabatta located in Rivera Molino on Calle Ignacio Vallarta. You can contact Natasha at moraga99(at)hotmail.com or by phone at 222-9388 or 322-121-0199.

Creative works of art disguised as all-occasion cards are to be found at the "Greeting Cards by Helen" booth. Helen Drake uses découpage, glitter and originality to produce one-of-a-kind greeting cards that can be framed as art. We were particularly impressed by the floral cards as well as the Geisha girls, which almost appear three dimensional.

Helen began creating these cards many years ago as a fun hobby and to give to friends. She then realized there is a dearth of greeting cards available in town and thought there might be some interest. Recently she has also begun to recycle old cards, adding embellishments to make them more attractive. We suggest you stock up for future birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Your friends will appreciate your thoughtfulness and good taste. You can contact Helen via email at feldra2(at)gmail.com or by phone at 281-2308 or 322-103-7943.

Candace Shaw of "Salad Rolls" has been making these wonderful rolls for over a year now. Her rolls contain vegetables obtained locally, such as bean sprouts, carrots, cucumbers, cilantro and Romaine lettuce.

She normally has a minimum of two veggie style rolls available as well other ingredients such as shrimp and her own prepared smoked marlin, cooked with her special blend of spices. She wraps all these ingredients in Vietnamese rice paper she gets from a local Asian supplier.

The finishing touch to these rolls is her own peanut sauce, made from scratch using peanuts from a fellow vendor's farm, which is completely vegetarian and gluten free. You can find Candace inside the school in the Market food court. You can contact her by email at mandilverde(at)hotmail.com by phone at 224-7250 or 322-294-5102.

More about the market...

The Old Town Farmers Market - Tianguis Cultural has fast become one of Puerto Vallarta's most compelling weekend attractions where you can meet new friends, say hello to old ones, talk directly to the producers, buy great products, support the local economy and take part in activities for the whole family.

We invite you to visit us every Saturday from November to May between 9:30 am and 2 pm. Tianguis Cultural is located on Pino Suarez between B. Badilio and V. Carranza in Old Town. Plenty of parking is available across the street in the Lazaro Cardenas parkade. Stop by the market info booth located on the corner of Pino Suarez and B. Badillio and purchase a raffle ticket for a chance to win a generous basket of products donated by the various vendors. Bring a donation of school supplies and receive a free ticket to the raffle. All proceeds from the raffle go toward projects to help the school.

If you are interested in participating as a vendor, please check out our website at oldtownfm.com, or visit us at the market info booth.

Click HERE to learn more about the Puerto Vallarta Old Town Farmers' Market.