The Chatham Borough Farmers' Market has three Saturdays left in its 20th season, and the borough has quietly arranged its fall around them. Since May, the market has run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Railroad Plaza South off Fairmount Avenue. On most weekends this fall, something else on the borough calendar landed in the same hours.
The final market is November 14. After that, Chatham's Saturday mornings lose the anchor that much of the borough's calendar has been built around since spring.
Ten to Two Is the Borough's Saturday
Read the Chatham Borough calendar one October Saturday at a time and the overlap is hard to miss. The market's four hours keep sharing the day with other community events.
| Saturday | Farmers' Market | Also on the borough calendar |
|---|---|---|
| October 10 | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | CBVFD Open House, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| October 17 | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Tri-Town Yard Sale, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| October 31 | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | PBA Trunk-or-Treat, 10 a.m. |
| November 7 | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Recycling and Compost Depot, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
The pattern goes back further than this month. The borough's own 2026 market schedule folds the Sustainability Fair into the September 19 market rather than giving it a separate day. The only Saturday the season skipped was July 4, according to the 2026 market regulations and handbook.
The result is a regular weekly rhythm that sits in the background. The yard sale, the firehouse open house and the Halloween event each run on their own. The market is the constant they keep lining up with.
A Grand Opening Timed to a Market Morning
The year's biggest Main Street food opening followed the same rhythm. TAPinto Chatham reported that the ribbon cutting and grand opening for Ori's Cheesesteaks at 231 Main St. was set for 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 15. That was a market Saturday, right in the middle of the 10-to-2 window.
Ori's comes from brothers Nouman and Usman Chaudhry. Their story starts on the same block. In TAPinto's coverage of the opening, the brothers are described as starting Namkeen Hot Chicken in Chatham during the pandemic in 2020. Ori's sits two doors down from that original Namkeen.
Between those two openings, Namkeen spread well past Morris County. TAPinto lists its nine locations as Metuchen, Parsippany, Williamsburg, Toronto, Atlanta, Stony Brook, Union, North Brunswick and the Chatham original. When it came time to launch a second concept, the brothers came back to Main Street instead of opening in one of those other markets. TAPinto's preview noted that 231 Main St. had been home to Divine Organic Nails & Spa and later to Chashni Cafe, which the same team had brought to Chatham. So this storefront has now held two of the brothers' ideas in a row.
The roles split cleanly, according to TAPinto. Nouman spent 13 years in the corporate tech world and handles the business side. Usman is a self-taught chef who develops the recipes. At the ribbon cutting, Nouman described the menu this way:
"We're not trying to reinvent what a cheesesteak is; we're adding a little innovation. We started out focusing on using the highest quality ingredients and putting our little touch of spicier or saucier. We have a classic version and the spicier Ori cheesesteak and the barbeque. We also offer loaded fries with cheesesteak on top."
That quote comes from TAPinto Chatham's report on the opening, which also notes that Chatham Borough Mayor Carolyn Dempsey spoke at the ceremony.
For a Saturday visit, this matters in a practical way. Main Street's newest counter opened during market hours, two doors from the homegrown original. A market morning can now end with a classic, an Ori or a barbecue cheesesteak, or Namkeen's hot chicken two doors away.
Twenty Seasons at Railroad Plaza South
The market has kept its Saturday slot long enough to count in decades. TAPinto covered its 10th season in 2016, with a Farm-to-Table fundraiser. It wrote about the 15th season in 2021, and its May 2026 opening-day story called this year the 20th.
The borough runs it directly. The handbook names Leslie Williams, the Community Services Director, as market manager and on-site coordinator. Questions go to her office at 54 Fairmount Avenue. That municipal ownership explains a lot about the calendar overlaps above. The market is part of the same borough schedule as the yard sale, the firehouse open house and the PBA's Halloween morning, so it sits naturally alongside them.
TAPinto's May coverage named these among the 2026 vendors, with the first three new to the market this year and Pup in a Cup back again:
- Zell's Farm, owned by Zell George, which travels from Hillsborough with specialty mushrooms
- Sugar & Whisk, known for freshly squeezed lemonades and specialty drinks such as dessert lattes
- The Vital Stretch, offering one-on-one stretching sessions
- Pup in a Cup
Vendor lineups shift over a season, and this list reflects who was there in spring. For the closing weeks, the Community Services office is the place to ask who will be set up on a given Saturday.
Three Saturdays Left
As of Thursday, October 29, the rest of the 20th season is easy to lay out:
- Saturday, October 31. The market runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the PBA Trunk-or-Treat starts at 10 a.m. the same morning. It's the most crowded Saturday left on the borough calendar, and the only one where the market shares its opening hour with a children's event.
- Saturday, November 7. The market runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. alongside the Recycling and Compost Depot's Saturday hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Clocks fall back the Sunday before, on November 1, so the morning arrives an hour brighter than the week before.
- Saturday, November 14. This is the one the borough's schedule labels "Final Market!" It closes the season that opened on May 16.
Each of these Saturdays can follow the route the Chaudhry brothers picked for their own grand opening. Start at Railroad Plaza South off Fairmount Avenue, then head to Main Street, where Ori's at 231 Main St. and the original Namkeen are two doors apart. The brothers' first restaurant took six years to grow into nine locations. Their newest one was timed to open on a market morning.
Once November 14 passes, the borough's Saturday calendar will no longer have that 10-to-2 market window to line up with. The 21st season's dates will appear on the borough's farmers market page once Community Services posts them.
I spend a lot of Saturday mornings on the same streets this post covers. Knowing which storefronts just changed hands and which traditions have lasted twenty seasons is part of how I describe a Chatham home to the people who might live in it next. If the season winding down has you thinking about your own plans, Shannon Xavier would be glad to talk them through with you. Schedule Your Concierge Consultation.
