Mt. Pleasant opens twice-weekly farmers market

Gerald Freyenberger has been coming to the Mt. Pleasant farmers market for 35 years.

He used to go to other farmers markets in the area, but now he heads to two each week — Mt. Pleasant and Washington.

“I’m getting to the age where I am slowing down a little,” he said.

On Saturday, Mt. Pleasant resident Ruth Ann Lapp made a beeline for Freyenberger’s booth at McMillan Park when she arrived to pick up several bundles of asparagus.

“He’s the asparagus man,” she said.

Usually Freyenberger has other produce — “a little bit of everything,“ he said, but the cool weather of late has slowed some of his crops.

“It’s been a cool season,” he said.

He also was selling tomato plants for those who wanted to start their own crop.

While Freyenberger has been selling his produce at the farmers market for decades, Saturday was the first market for Ginger Strittmatter where she was offering an assortment of handmade wreaths.

A friend had recommended the Mt. Pleasant market to her.

“This is a new thing for me,” Strittmater said, adding she hopes to turn her “passion into a profit.”

The farmers market opens at 8:30 a.m. and runs until 11 a.m. on Saturdays through mid-October.

The market is open from 4-6 p.m. each Wednesday.

“Wednesdays are when the Amish families join us,” market manager Vicki Messer said. “They bring their wonderful baked goods and fried pies.”