Winter at Cedar and Alder: The South Side Farmers Market Moves In With a Café Next Door

Since mid-October, UNC's South Side Farmers Market has been running indoors at the CEDAR Center, 526 Cedar Ave., every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will stay there until mid-May. The market has moved inside for winter before. This year it shares the building with a business that opens Monday through Saturday, so the corner of Cedar Avenue and Alder Street now has something going on six days a week, well beyond the three hours of market on Saturday.

A Market That Started With a Grocery Gap

United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania started the South Side Farmers Market in 2010 as part of its work to revitalize South Scranton. On its market page, UNC says the goal was to "address a lack of local access to fresh, affordable food." UNC says the market has since become a year-round indoor and outdoor market that "draws hundreds of people on a Saturday." Vendors sell locally grown fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat and baked goods.

The yearly calendar is simple. From May through October, the market sets up outdoors at Cedar and Alder when the weather allows. From mid-October to mid-May, it moves inside the CEDAR Center on the same corner. DiscoverNEPA lists the regular Saturday dates through December, with no gaps for the holidays.

Some older UNC pages still say the market is held "behind Peoples Security Bank" and works by pre-order and pickup. Those details are out of date. UNC's current farmers market calendar gives the CEDAR Center address and the indoor and outdoor seasons.

What You Can Buy, and How SNAP Stretches It

The market accepts SNAP/EBT and takes part in the Food Trust's Food Bucks program. For every $4 you spend in SNAP/EBT benefits, you get another $2 in Food Bucks to spend on fresh produce, and there is no weekly limit. That works out to $6 of produce for every $4 in benefits, every Saturday, all winter.

Endless Roots Farm lists the South Side Farmers Market, 526 Cedar Ave., as a Saturday pickup spot for its CSA, from 10 a.m. to noon. When the market moved outdoors in spring 2025, the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce listed that season's vendors: El Buen Amigo as a pop-up, Endless Roots Farm, Caffe Fresco, and Kim and Andrew's Farm Market. That list is from 2025. Vendors can change from season to season, so the South Side Farmers Market Facebook page is the best place to see who is selling this winter.

The Building Used to Be a Bank

The CEDAR Center is a former bank at Cedar Avenue and Alder Street that UNC renovated and opened in August 2025. The Times-Tribune reported the project as a $4.2 million investment. The building hosts adult education, English language learning, career readiness and multicultural wellness programs, along with the year-round market.

The market moved indoors here for its first winter in the new building last season. What's different this year is the café that opened inside.

The Café That Changed the Weekly Schedule

Coffee Inclusive celebrated its grand opening at the CEDAR Center on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti came, and so did Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce President Bob Durkin. The café is a program of PA Inclusive, a Pittston nonprofit that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and it creates jobs for them. The first Coffee Inclusive opened on Kennedy Boulevard in Pittston about three and a half years before the Scranton location.

At the opening, Frank Bartoli, president and CEO of PA Inclusive and Coffee Inclusive, told The Times-Tribune why the organization chose South Scranton:

"We heard a lot of people say I'd like my son or daughter to have a job, but I can't get to Pittston. Coming closer to another community where we can employ more people is a great opportunity. (UNC) had envisioned a coffee shop as part of their redevelopment of this building and we just fell in love with the vibe."

So the café was part of UNC's plan for the old bank from the beginning. The market and the café sharing a building through the winter was planned that way.

According to Coffee Inclusive's menu, it serves coffee and espresso drinks, tea, chai and matcha, baked goods, cold-pressed juices, smoothies and açaí bowls. Examples include nitro cold brew, cinnamon buns, a Goddess Green juice and an Acai Immunity smoothie.

How the Week Lines Up Now

The café opens Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. That means it's open two hours before the market starts on Saturday and two hours after the market ends.

In November, the market runs on Saturdays Nov. 7, 14, 21 and 28. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is a regular market day. In past winters, a Saturday market date was the main reason to stop by this corner. Now you can buy coffee here any weekday morning, and the market fits into a building that is already open.

The Sidewalk Outside Was Rebuilt This Year

The walk to the building changed in 2026 too. On June 1, the city held a ribbon-cutting for a $700,000 project on the 300, 400 and 500 blocks of Cedar Avenue, between Orchard and Alder streets. Crews installed new sidewalks, curbs and accessible curb-cut ramps and planted 19 trees. The Times-Tribune reported that the city paid for it with federal American Rescue Plan Act money, and that it grew out of a 2023 connectivity study on pedestrian safety and traffic flow.

At the ribbon-cutting, Cognetti said Cedar Avenue was the city's first streetscape to be finished. Other projects were still underway in West Scranton, around Courthouse Square and along Lackawanna and Jefferson avenues. The new blocks end at Alder Street, which is where the CEDAR Center stands.

City Business Administrator Eileen Cipriani said most of the new trees are lilacs, with a few honey locusts. The lilacs were planted in late spring, so they haven't had a full bloom season on these blocks yet. The market moves back outdoors in mid-May, around the time lilacs usually bloom.

Stops Within a Few Blocks

A couple of other food stops are a short walk from the CEDAR Center:

1. Florita's Bakery, 618 Cedar Ave. DiscoverNEPA describes it as known for pan dulce, daily pastries and breads, and custom tres leches cakes.
2. Italo's Mexican Restaurant, 731 Pittston Ave. DiscoverNEPA highlights the giant burrito, plus tacos, enchiladas, tostados and huaraches.

For a Saturday morning, you could get a nitro cold brew at Coffee Inclusive at 8 a.m., buy produce, eggs and baked goods at the market once it opens at 10, then walk over to Florita's at 618 Cedar for tres leches.

The CEDAR Center was planned as a single place for programs, a café and a market, and this winter is the first time all three are running under its roof at once.

If you own property near Cedar Avenue or are thinking about buying in South Scranton, Luxe Homes Real Estate follows changes like these on the blocks around our clients' properties. Schedule an Investment or Property Consultation to see how this corner's new six-day schedule fits your plans.