Market master pleased with attendance at first event

By Brooks Taylor, Mt. Pleasant News

What a difference a year makes.

When Vicki Messer cast a glance toward the sky Saturday morning she saw plenty of blue and a bright sun to greet residents to the first Farmers Market of the season at McMillan Park.

?The turnout today has been awesome,? Messer, the market master, gushed. ?It is quite different than last year. At the first market last year it was 39 degrees.?

Rich Sankey, of Mt. Pleasant, was sitting at a table, minding the cookies his wife, Jo, had baked. ?I am just the transportation chairman,? the retiree from Mt. Pleasant quipped. ?Business has been great. People were waiting before the market started this morning. It has been a good start to the season. Jo has a good following and we have a lot of repeat customers.

It was a farmers market without the usual vegetables and produce. Messer said it just has been too cold thus far this spring.

?This is the first time in 10 years we didn?t have vegetables at the first market,? she noted. ?It was a cold and wet March and April. If we had planted in February, we would have good vegetables.?

Messer, who has been market master for three years and a participant for 10 years, said there were 14 vendors at Saturday?s event which she termed about average. ?With Mother?s Day and high school graduations tomorrow (Sun.), it cut into the vendor list a bit. Also, we have some vendors who only come on Saturdays and others who just come Wednesdays.?

Vendors come from about a 50-mile radius and in past years have come from Wayland, Trenton, Muscatine, Montrose and Ft. Madison.

Saturday?s offerings largely included baked goods, three craft tables and several tables of plants.

When spring turns into summer, there will be plenty of produce and vegetables, such as sweet corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, radishes, lettuce, spinach, peas, cucumbers and potatoes, Messer promised.

?I would say this is a very good turnout for the first market,? she said. ?There weren?t many plants left by 10 a.m.

The market runs until Saturday, Oct. 7. On Wednesdays, it is open from 4-6 p.m., and 8:30-11 a.m., on Saturdays at McMillan Park.