The Rochester public market has been around since 1905. Pretty much since then it has served residents as the premiere Rochester farmers market year round. Locals visit it for the quality produce and other items.
The Rochester Market was voted the top market in 2010 for the Americas Favorite Farmers Market contest. If you visit, you may come to the same conclusion based on the variety of items for sale and people that make it run so smoothly.
A farmers market is typically a retail market where farmers can bring their goods directly to consumers to sell. Consumers visit a market like the Rochester market for the opportunity to buy items that are usually fresher than any supermarket or grocery store. They can buy items from the farmers just after they came out the field or were picked from trees. For instance the items you see at a farmers booth probably were picked within the last 24 hours or so.
Farmers use a place like the Rochester market because it provides a way to sell items for a retail price and can be fairly profitable. Typically if they are selling to a wholesale distributor, they are getting a far smaller price for their goods in exchange for not having to store, ship and distribute their harvest to stores. That can be a good arrangement, but when they sell directly to consumers at the Rochester Market they merely have to show up and sell for something like the retail price.
With the trend for healthy living, there is growing interest in eating locally produced foods from the Rochester market as well. Some consumers would rather get produce grown regionally than pay for items shipped across country or from an international location. That allows them to eat various items throughout the year as the seasons change too. The practice also allows the farmers at the Rochester market to keep the dollars in the community versus at a larger chain of grocery stores.