Want to spoil your mom for Mother’s Day? Perhaps she could use a massage, a nice piece of jewelry, some good food or relaxing music.  If so, Mom can get all that and more at the upcoming Olney Farmers and Artists Market, which opens Sunday, Mother's Day, May 8 for its fifth season.

“We have a lot of special things going on on Mother’s Day,” said market president Janet Terry. 

Olney’s offerings are impressive.  “We have a former White House chef, Charlie Redden,” Terry explained,  “He’s going to be doing a special chef demo with a surprise recipe.”

The "Be Fit, Be Well" tent will offer free massages for moms.  Live music will be performing at the bandstand.

“We expect to have a winery,” said Terry, adding, “We’ll have our live music, so we’re hoping our mothers will come and sit and enjoy the free seated massages and our café seating and just sit and linger with their families.”

The wide array of vendors at the Olney Market should provide great shopping opportunities and make gift giving easy. 

Steven Lebowitz, owner of Steven Howard Confections, said he’s been getting ready for the market opening and hoping for beautiful weather. He has some new flavors this season including peppermint drops, strawberries & cream, tropical paradise, raspberry bites and coconut addiction. 

The market also has a number of artists who create beautiful beaded jewelry.  Ana Deitz makes fine jewelry with precious gemstones for her company, Noobie Bijoux. Besides her usual wares, she can custom design something for mom by special order.

If mom is a pet lover, you must stop by Vera Elliott’s tent.  She paints pets and is often surrounded by children who love to watch her in action.  Sometimes children bring their crayons and Elliott teaches them how she transforms a photo of Fido into a work of art.

Delicious and diverse food may give moms a break from cooking as well. 

“We also have some really great new vendors that I think that moms will particularly enjoy,” Terry said, suggesting Belgian waffles, falafels, or baklava. The baklava is a really unique kind, hand carved and filled with milk chocolate, dark chocolate or raspberry fillings.  The market will also sell cake on a stick for the first time. 

“A mom’s favorite has been our Southern fried peanuts that you eat, shell and all,” Terry noted. “We’ll be back with those.”  The sweet, hot pickles that people have been clamoring for, from Big Ben National Park in Texas, will be back.

“I’m really excited,” Terry said of the market’s upcoming opening. “In the past year we’ve really exploded.  It’s startling to me sometimes to look out and see how many tents we have. 

"It’s like an extended family, too, because these people, too, are just wonderful.”

The Olney Farmers and Artists Market opens Sunday, May 8. It's open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The market is located on the grounds of Montgomery General Hospital's Thrift Shop, 2801 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, in Olney.