First Eastern Market, and now another favorite alternative grocery market is closing down at least temporarily, if not for good. Not too far north in Burtonsville, Md., the Dutch Country Farmers Market has been bringing Amish-grown goods down from Pennsylvania every weekend for the last 20 years. Visitors come from all over the region for fresh pies, produce, and maybe even a dinner of ribs and chicken.

But get ’em while you can, because the Amish only have until next summer, when their market will have to leave its current home at the Burtonsville Shopping Center. The Washington Post reports that the center is being demolished next year, when the 50-year old building will be replaced with a behemoth three times the size and anchored with a new supermarket. The Amish will have to leave the shopping center permanently, since no grocery store would operate with this weekend competition.

Burtonsville residents are doing their best to find a new venue for the farmers market, afraid that if they temporarily relocate to a new city, they won’t ever be back — and we can sympathize with losing a local market that provides freshly made goods and produce straight from the farmer’s hands. But, as the Post notes, trying to find another low-rent option is proving difficult. There are currently two other Amish markets in the region, in Germantown and Annapolis.

Photo by easement.