There are some places around Keuka Lake where you go for the scenery.
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Some where you go for the food.
And then there are places you go simply because they make you happy.
For me, one of those places is the Finger Lakes Produce Auction just outside Penn Yan.
In fact, I’ve already marked my calendar and am not-so-patiently waiting for my first trip of the season. There’s something about that first auction day that feels a little like the unofficial start of summer around here.
And no — I’m not usually there for bushels of tomatoes or crates of cucumbers.
I’m there for the flowers. ๐ธ
Rows and rows of them… bright, cheerful, and impossible to leave behind without at least a few tucked into the car for the ride home.
A Place Where the Seasons Arrive on a Wagon
If you’ve never been to a produce auction, it’s a wonderful little slice of farm life that most people don’t realize exists.
Growers bring their harvest — everything from vegetables to plants to flowers — and the items are sold through live bidding. Wagons roll into the parking lot stacked high with flats of fresh produce and flowers.
And if you’re not a local, you might notice something else that’s a little different. The tractors pulling those wagons don’t ride on the rubber tires most of us are used to seeing. Many Mennonite farmers use steel wheels instead — a quiet nod to tradition and a reminder that some ways of life around the Finger Lakes still move at their own steady pace.
Once everything is unloaded, the auctioneer begins calling out numbers faster than most of us can even think. The rhythm of the bids moves quickly, a lively dance of hands, nods, and numbers as buyers claim hanging baskets, flats of flowers, and whatever produce is in season.
Buyers raise a hand.
A lot is sold.
And the next lot bidding begins.
It’s fast. It’s lively. And it’s entirely fascinating to watch.
For me the real magic happens in the spring.
That’s when wagon after wagon rolls into the parking lot carrying rows of flowers in every color imaginable — marigolds, petunias, geraniums, hanging baskets, and little starter plants just waiting for someone to give them a home.
My Kind of Treasure Hunting
Some people go to auctions looking for antiques or collectibles.
I go looking for flowers.
Stacks of bright green flats appear one after another, each one filled with tiny blooms that promise summer is on its way. Sometimes I go with a plan for what I want.
Other times I simply wait for something beautiful to roll past and decide in that moment that it absolutely must come home with me.
That’s the thing about the produce auction — you never quite know what will appear next.
A Quiet Community Tradition
The auction itself has become an important part of the agricultural life in Yates County. Local farmers bring what they’ve grown, and buyers from roadside stands, farm markets, and small stores come to purchase fresh goods in bulk.
But even if you’re not buying crates of produce or flats of flowers, it’s still worth visiting.
You’ll see horse-drawn buggies parked outside, farmers chatting between loads, and wagons filled with everything the season has to offer.
It’s one of those places where the rhythm of farm life is still very much alive.
And Yes… I Usually Leave With Flowers
By the time the morning is over, I’ve usually ended up with more flowers than I originally planned.
But honestly, that’s part of the fun.
Because there’s something wonderful about driving home with the car filled with color — little reminders that warmer days are on their way and summer around Keuka Lake is just beginning to wake up.
And if you ever find yourself at the Finger Lakes Produce Auction and see someone happily bidding on flats of flowers…
It might just be me.
Did You Know? ๐ฟ
The Finger Lakes Produce Auction, just outside Penn Yan, holds a special place in New York’s agricultural story. When it opened in 2001, it became the first produce auction in New York State.
The idea was simple but powerful — create a place where small local farms could bring their harvest and sell it directly through a live auction system. Instead of negotiating individual sales, buyers bid on lots of produce, flowers, and plants as they roll through the auction building on wagons.
Today, farmers from across the region — many from the large Mennonite farming communities of Yates County — bring everything from fresh vegetables and pumpkins to hanging baskets and flower flats.
For many roadside stands, markets, and small stores around the Finger Lakes, the produce auction has become an important source for fresh local goods.
And for visitors like me?
It’s one of the most colorful places around Keuka Lake to watch the seasons arrive — one wagon of flowers at a time. ๐ธ๐ฟ
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Finger Lakes Produce Auction
๐ 3691 State Route 14-A, Penn Yan, NY 14527
If you love fresh, local flavors, Finger Lakes Produce Auction is one of those stops that feels like a true taste of the region. Located just outside Penn Yan, the market offers a wonderful selection of seasonal produce and local goods that reflect the hardworking farms of the Finger Lakes.
It’s the kind of place where the shelves change with the seasons, and every visit feels a little different depending on what’s just come in from the fields.
๐ Phone: (315) 531-8446
A perfect stop if you're exploring the back roads around Keuka and want to bring a little of the harvest home with you.
A Keuka Roots Thought
Around Keuka Lake, the seasons don’t arrive with a calendar page turning.
They arrive on wagons.
First the flats of tiny green seedlings…
then baskets overflowing with color…
and before long the hillsides are bursting with the same blooms you saw roll through the auction barn weeks earlier.
It’s one of those quiet reminders that life around the lake still moves with the rhythm of the land — farmers growing, neighbors gathering, and a little bit of beauty finding its way home with you in the passenger seat.
And sometimes, the best way to welcome a new season around Keuka…
is with a car full of flowers.
๐ฟ Stay Rooted. Stay Keuka.
