Waynesburg Farmers’ Market concludes season Wednesday
Harden’s Family Farm grew these tomatoes in high tunnel greenhouses and will still have them for sale at the farm after Waynesburg Farmers’ Market closes for the season Wednesday.
Daniel Latanation was one of the lucky winners at last week’s customer appreciation basket raffle at the Waynesburg Farmers’ Market. Contents of the baskets were donated by the vendors.
Rachel Miller of Autumns Boutique holds up one of her newest creations, a mini-globe terrarium.
WAYNESBURG – “This is the last of the corn,” Homer Harden told customers last Wednesday at Waynesburg Farmers’ Market. The brisk winds of autumn lifted the edges of the awning that fluttered over his tables filled with apples, kale, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers and that last fresh helping of corn to be had from Harden’s Family Farm.
Waynesburg’s last farmers’ market of 2014 will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday but buying local produce doesn’t have to end there. Harden has tomatoes and zucchini growing in a high tunnel greenhouse on the family farm on Wickerham Road in Fredricktown.
His produce truck will be parked for the season but, “You can come to the farm and buy what we still have. Give us a call for directions.”
The market, 10 years old this year, has cultivated a loyal following of shoppers determined to buy local, who have followed it from the Baptist Church parking lot in West Waynesburg to the parking lot behind the American Legion in Waynesburg to its present location on Church Street beside the Greene County Courthouse.
Spreading the word every Wednesday morning about what is available goes out as an email to county workers as soon as new market manager Julia Richmond gets the information to Greene County Tourism secretary Candace Tustin, and shoppers begin arriving at 10 a.m.
Richmond has a pop-up tent and a table where she and other agencies can distribute information about county events, along with tips for cooking, canning and freezing fresh produce.
“We’re looking for more vendors so I’ll have the membership papers and market rules here on my table for the last market. We’re looking for locally grown honey, eggs, meat, cut flowers and other products, ” Richmond said.
The farmers’ market is part of Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful and many of the vendors who participate have been returning for years, to the delight of those who have developed a taste for what they make and grow.
Last Wednesday, Richmond’s table was filled with baskets of produce, cosmetics, plants, baked goods and a bottle of Plum Run pumpkin wine, all donated by the vendors for a customer appreciation raffle. As the winds picked up, Richmond and others took down their easy-ups and awnings and shoppers returned to collect their prizes before heading home.
“The vendors at our market truly appreciate our customers and wanted to have this giveaway to say thank you for all those folks who supported us this season,” Richmond said.
Like Harden, other vendors still have products for sale at home.
SS Company of Waynesburg has perennials in the greenhouse and Heather Gapen of Willow Tree Farm Baked Goods does a year-round business with her cookies, breads and specialty cakes, including wedding.
“I have mail order customers and will be doing shows through the holiday season,” Rachel Miller of Autumns Boutique said. “But when February comes, I stay home and make soap and get ready for spring. I’m growing a lot of plants this year for my new line of mini-globe terrariums.”
For contact information for the Waynesburg market vendors or to apply to be a vendor next year, contact Greene County Tourism at 724-627-8687.