Gray skies and a soft but persistent rain
put hearty shoppers and sellers to the
test Saturday, but the Lincoln Farmer’s
Market held strong just long enough to see the
mid-morning sun poke through the clouds.
About 400 people weathered the weather,
with or without umbrellas, and browsed through
the open-air market reminiscent of the old
Market Square of the late 1800s, according to
Sally Oglesby, assistant program consultant
for the Lincoln Hay market Development Corp.
Located in the Historic Haymarket District,
the Farmer’s Market bustles every Saturday
morning with local farmers, gardeners, jelly
makers, bakers, artisans and other street ven
dors who line Seventh Street between P and Q
streets:
Fresh fish has replaced noisy livestock, but
shoppers still find farm-fresh produce and home
baked breads and pastries from old family
recipes. In the spirit of the market, sellers bring
only homegrown or homemade products.
Now in its fifth season, the market attracts
about 30 vendors and nearly 700 shoppers each
week.
Gary Barcus of North Bend started truck
farming with a buddy part time four years ago
between semesters at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln. They now grow produce full
lime, as long as the seasons and the markets
cooperate, he said.
The abundance of delights available at the
market from 8 am. to 12:30 p.m. include:
seasonal products such as bedding plants and
sweet com; fresh and dried herbs, fresh-cut and
dried flowers, and native flowering plants and
houscplants; vinegars and honey; jams, jellies
and preserves; produce such as sweet potatoes,
broccoli, squash, tomatoes, beets and cabbage;
fresh eggs; woodchip mulch; fall harvest speci
alities like com shocks; and tie-dyed T-shirts
and homemade craft items.
Vendor Stephanie Whitson of Douglas brings
her (our children to the market as part of their
home-schooling experience.
“It teaches the children to interact with
people and is really good hands-on math train
ing and small business training,” Whitson said.
Seven-year-old Zachary helps his father Bob
with woodworking and 10-year-old Brooke
makes her own crafts, helps her mother sew
and is learning to balance the business books.
Balancing the checkbook or figuring the
business costs and profits sends Brooke’s inter
est in mailt up “about 3000 percent,” Whitson
said. The children also learn percentages as
they calculate their own small share of the
family’s profits, she said.
The Market also features walking tours of
the historic district, children’s dancing and
demonstrations of traditional crafts and trades
such as fencing matches; cheese, wine and jelly
making; quilting; landscaping with native
grasses; and spinning natural fibers on old
fashioned spinning wheels.
ThisSaturday,accordionislC.J.Hanncrwill
be seen strolling among the crowd, and the
Lincoln Calligraphers Guild will be demon
strating their crafL
Story and Photos By Robin Trimarchi