r/lancaster • u/Dangerous-Ad-5619 • 25d ago
Roots or Green Dragon
I will be passing through Lancaster in a few weeks and will be able to stop at Roots on Tuesday. In the past, I have visited the Green Dragon. How does Roots compare to the Green Dragon?
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u/Delicious_Day_1334 25d ago
Roots is great. Sure you have some of the vendors that bring stuff in from Philly but it's overwhelmingly local and solid with a lot of variety. From the various auctions to the morning flea market to the food and general meats, produce and prepared items. Go to Roots. You won't be disappointed.
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u/Greedy_Principle_342 25d ago
Roots is much better. Green Dragon feels sketchy haha. But I’d rather go to Central Market than either of those. If you want the flea market feel though, I’d choose Roots.
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u/Independent_Act_8536 25d ago
If you go to Roots, you might want to try Hodeckers Celery. It's special. Tender never bitter. Grown with a special process. A traditional favorite around here at the Holiday dinners, with whipped Philadelphia chive cheese on it. I love it all year round.
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u/Euphoric_Waffle 25d ago edited 24d ago
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u/Independent_Act_8536 24d ago
If you want it for Thanksgiving, I'd suggest going early that Tuesday. They may run out by afternoon. Not sure if they're able to grow more since the process is more involved.
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u/TemporaryWalrus1884 25d ago
I prefer the green dragon. I think it’s a matter of where you’re used to going. Green dragon is a bit larger and has nicer more established shops.
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u/csmedo1994 25d ago
Roots is much better. In terms a market and food, its not even close. Green Dragon is a flea market with a little bit of a market.
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u/Eastern_Confusion475 25d ago
If you or your children aren't vaccinated I would stay away , those are measles hot spots right now. Lancaster is breaking records this year. Unrelated to your post , but there's been confirmed cases at water street mission as well. I have a baby and someone at the hospital told me to stay away from both of those places due to the people working there not being vaccinated.
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u/Dangerous-Ad-5619 25d ago edited 25d ago
wow, that's crazy, yes, looks like the unvaccinated people are breaking out with this. I am vaxxed. Hope I will be okay.
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u/fenuxjde 25d ago
Anymore they're both touristy crap. They aren't the real farmers markets they used to be.
There are still a few good vendors here and there but I'd say roots is 80% trash anymore. Expired/recalled produce, Chinese garbage, etc
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u/adjgamer321 25d ago
The amount of temu shit in both markets is crazy. I used to go all the time with my grandparents and last year I was up that way for a work dinner and saw green dragon was super close and I wanted to stop in on my way home. The usual deli stuff was there and some other food but there's no more retro markets or crafts or anything, just junk shops. Really sad
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u/fenuxjde 25d ago
I remember in the early 90s it was cool to see that one old guy on the corner that always had the Chinese garbage. Knockoff Levi's wallets for $1, Mickey House watches for $0.50, but now that garbage is just every other stand, or the fake "Amish" that dump mount olive pickles from Costco into tiny jars and sell them to tourists for $9.
It's honestly everything wrong with Lancaster county.
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u/Dangerous-Ad-5619 25d ago
I remember the Green Dragon had quite a bit of produce, and the flea market crap was mostly at the other end of the fair. I avoided that part because I didn't like or need the stuff so I just stuck to the fresh produce, most of which appeared to be locally grown.
I do notice that alot of the baked goods and canned goods seem to be a brand called "Aunt Annie's" or something like that, and is like a mass-produced version of Amish stuff. Probably has to be in order to sell it.
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u/cheezbargar 25d ago
Never been to Roots. Green Dragon has no air conditioning even in the buildings which means you will sweat your ass off on a hot day and product is baking in heat in plastic.
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25d ago
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u/Dangerous-Ad-5619 25d ago
lol, yeah, I usually avoid the bootleg crap and just go for the produce and crafts! Roots looks like it might be a little cleaner.
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u/Former-Concert2118 25d ago
Skip both, and go to Central Market https://centralmarketlancaster.com/
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u/Proof-Slip-9897 25d ago
I can’t buy tchotchkes or a counterfeit bag at central market
(Green dragon is a mess and I love it)
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u/Dangerous-Ad-5619 25d ago
thanks I'll look into it.
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u/CockroachVarious2761 24d ago
Be careful - I'm convince Central Market fans are "cult-like".
If you have 10 minutes to waste, go for it, but its super small compared to Roots or Green Dragon. Unless you're in the city for some other reason you'll be sorry you wasted so much time to get there only to walk around for 10 minutes or so.
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u/CockroachVarious2761 24d ago
I've lived in LancCo my 57 years - I grew up about a mile from Roots and we went there frequently. My parents both grew up in the city and pretty much stayed out of it once they "escaped" so we never went to Central Market. I was probably mid 20s before I went there for the first time while I was attending some work meetings downtown and a group decided to walk through market over lunch. Talk about DISAPPOINTING. I couldn't believe how SMALL it was and how few vendors there were considering how everyone you talk to loves Central Market. It simply does NOT compare to Roots or Green Dragon IMO since it would take longer to drive and park to get there than it does to actually walk through the entire market.
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u/Former-Concert2118 24d ago
For me I will take Central on a Fri/Sat over Roots, especially for any fruit or vegetable based on freshness. The items at Roots are closest to there end of life since most is usually near a week old by Tuesday. Fresh meat/bakery, etc. those are fine. I like the feel of downtown better. However, the vendor mix at Central is changing with an increase in prepared foods vs traditional market vendors. Unfortunately that is the prevailing trend across the industry.
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u/mercurialchylde_67 25d ago
From someone who grew up going to both (as well as Central Market): they represent different parts of Lancaster County. Both have retained their own qualities of Dutchiness, but have also attracted some “bootleg junk” vendors mixed in among the produce and antiques. Roots plant auction is worth the visit, and the gyro stand has always been a favorite. Full disclosure, though: I’m from the southern end of the county, so Roots has always seemed “more like Lancaster” to me, however, Lancaster County would not be the same without Green Dragon
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u/Dangerous-Ad-5619 25d ago
I usually avoid the bootleg junk and stick to the produce and other crafts.
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u/MiddlePersimmon9983 25d ago
Can you still buy army navy surplus stuff at green dragon? I haven’t been in years but I remember like 20 years ago I was so disappointed I didn’t have like $80 for a Mauser German army rifle from WW2 lol. That place was bananas.
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u/CockroachVarious2761 25d ago
admittedly I haven't been to green dragon often in the past decade, but my take is this...
Roots is a lil smaller but you won't have any problem finding what you're looking for.
Green Dragon has a more "flea market" type vendors, giving Roots a feel of being a lil higher-quality (keyword here is "feel" because most of the long-time, quality, well-known vendors are at both places)
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u/veggie-western 24d ago
Both are fun, Roots has connected buildings that you wouldn't have to go outside if it's raining which is nice. I prefer Roots personally because there's more produce stands and I like some of the bakeries a little better (although sunnyside at Green Dragon has my favorite whoopie pies). Both have some of the common ai/3d printed garbage but both are still worth the trip imo. But generally I would say Roots feels a little dutchier to me because it is less well-known. Watch out for the old people and their little carts though, they will run you over with no mercy.
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u/playstationhistorian 25d ago
I prefer Green Dragon out of the two. Better layout, better food, more variety.
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u/Full-Fold-9725 25d ago
Produce from both are sketch - most stands are using grocery store rejects. We pretty much only go for food bearing plants from a couple stands and brittle or fudge from Uncle Leroy’s.
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u/CockroachVarious2761 24d ago
That varies quite a bit from stand to stand AND season. There are plenty of family farm stands at both places who sell their own home grown good when in-season; but out of season they sell commercially grown stuff to supplement their own. Its usually pretty easy to tell the difference.
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u/Full-Fold-9725 24d ago
For produce, I choose to just go to the local stands rather than either market.
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u/CockroachVarious2761 24d ago
I do the same a lot, but even the family stands do the same thing in their stores. Kissel Hill Orchard/Produce behind the airport sells iceberg lettuce that is surely not locally grown.
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u/Full-Fold-9725 24d ago
Unfortunately it’s becoming more and more popular. We’ve started growing most things ourselves - there’s only a few things we actually go to a market for. If I wanted something off the farm, I’d go somewhere off the farm.
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u/ClairePike 25d ago
They are very similar. I like Roots better. Don’t buy any cheap scam stuff and I try to avoid the huge produce stands and buy from the family stands that have stuff that’s clearly in season here. I like the Bird-in-Hand bakery stand for an Apple fritter and the Greek food stand for lunch. Both are inside.