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Salt City Market food hall opens in Syracuse

The Salt City Market, Syracuse’s first food hall in the heart of downtown, has been years in the making but will finally open to the public Friday. The timing is not great, in the middle of winter, during a pandemic. But the vendors and organizers say they are excited and hopeful.

Fiona Day is the owner of Pie’s the Limit, which has all kinds of pies and other baked goods.

“Sausage rolls made with house-made sausage and our own flaky pastry,” Day said. “We are doing butternut squash gallets with caramelized onions and cheddar. On the sweet end of things, we’ve got a raspberry brownie pie, which is extremely delicious.”

Credit Tom Magnarelli / WRVO Public Media
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WRVO Public Media
Fiona Day of Pie's the Limit.

Day is one of ten vendors, all women or minority-owned businesses, selected for the food hall, something she calls “life changing.” And while she said it’s concerning and daunting to open at this time, her best friend Roxanne Broda-Blake is helping her out, and she said there is an amazing sense of community with the vendors.

“They’re all just wonderful people,” Broda-Blake said. “It’s very exciting to share a space with them and be all in this together.”

Maarten Jacobs is with the Allyn Family Foundation and Syracuse Urban Partnership, the organizations behind the food hall. He said the vendors represent all the unique and diverse cultures of Syracuse, under one roof.

“Everything from soul food to Jamaican to southeast Asian cuisines,” Jacobs said.

He said the public is also excited about this, with pent-up demand to get out and do something. The food hall is open seven days a week and the vendors are also offering curbside and delivery service.

Tom Magnarelli is a reporter covering the central New York and Syracuse area. He joined WRVO as a freelance reporter in 2012 while a student at Syracuse University and was hired full time in 2015. He has reported extensively on politics, education, arts and culture and other issues around central New York.