I spent this past Saturday morning as I often do, visiting our local farmers markets. I was glad to see that both the downtown Lumberton market and the regional farmers market were doing a brisk business.

The downtown Lumberton market continues to be a strong early-morning market, primarily for those living in the Lumberton community. Most of those I saw at this market were familiar faces - the ones who buy from this market on an almost regular basis.

For the past two months, there has been an average of about 20 vendors selling at this market on Saturdays and about 15 selling on Wednesdays. These vendors have a good variety of fruits and vegetables, and because of the abundant rainfall this summer, their products are really great.

At this time of the year, one of the most popular items at farmers markets is watermelons. Several weeks ago, I purchased one of the seedless varieties of watermelons from one of the market vendors, and it was without a doubt one of the best watermelons I have ever eaten. When I left the house Saturday morning, that was my major objective. To buy another seedless watermelon.

I found what I was looking for at the Lumberton market, but I also found something I was not expecting. One of the vendors had some very small watermelons. These melons were not much larger than a softball. He encouraged me to try one, and suggested I take it home and put it in the refrigerator first and get it real cold.

I did as he suggested, and later that afternoon, I cut into one of the smallest watermelons I have ever tried to eat. Much to my surprise, what I saw was not what I expected.

I will not tell you more about this experience. I just urge you to stop by the market and get one of these little melons for yourself. You might have to shop at several different vendors before you find them, but I am sure you will be as pleased and as surprised as I was.

After leaving the downtown Lumberton market, I traveled out to the regional market. Contrary to what I have heard so many people say, it was not a long distance at all. I checked it on my odometer, only 4.1 miles. I took only 8 minutes to get there. And I did not even have to get on the Interstate.

I saw the reports in the newspapers this spring about how poorly this market was doing. The report said that there was not much selection and very few people were selling at this market.

What I saw was an abundance of fruits and vegetables being sold. In addition to those vendors who were selling fruits and vegetables, many other vendors were selling crafts, plants, and other items. Several vendors were selling meat products, and one vendor was selling baked goods. One vendor was even shelling peas right there in his space.

I also saw a lot of people shopping the market. But I did not see as many familiar faces as I had seen downtown. True to my nature, I made a point to speak to some of the people I did not know. After a few minutes of general conversation, I found out that most of them were not local folks. Some were from Maine, some from Florida, some from Charlotte, and some from Asheville. All of them said they were real pleased with the quality of the items they were able to buy at the market, but what surprised them the most were the prices. They were accustomed to paying much more for almost everything they bought.

All this time, I thought a bushel of peas was the same price anywhere you went, but that is not the case. Maybe our vendors are not as proud of their peas as are pea growers in other areas. But I bet our vendors sell a lot more peas, and I bet our vendors have a lot more happy customers.

If you have not been to the regional farmers market recently, I encourage you to make a point to visit. Do as I do. If you are in town on Saturday morning, go to the market before you get busy doing something else. I am sure you will be surprised at what you see.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 9/10/03