Stephanie Kraft Photo

The place to be on Saturdays in Amherst is the winter farmers’ market, which recently featured accordionist Sophie Crafts “playing down her student loans” and charming children with her dress-alike puppet. SNAP cards were welcome at the market, where shoppers could buy winter produce, locally produced meat, eggs, and bread baked with Valley-grown wheat, maple syrup, suet birdhouses, artisanal soap and more.

The number of winter markets in Massachusetts has increased more than 400 percent since 2009 (to over 40), and the number of people attending them has grown as well; a quiet event in its early days, the Amherst market drew 750 people on this mid-February day.•