Hungry? Farmers’ Market opens in four weeks

Published 12:28 am Sunday, May 9, 2010

Nothing alerts our taste buds more than the two words, “Farmers’ Market,” so it was great to read volunteers have worked with Vicksburg personnel to assure fresh veggies and more will be offered again this summer at a downtown venue.

Green beans, squash and sweet corn from the field to the cookpot within hours. Vine-ripened tomatoes sliced for a sandwich. Is there anything better?

Three years ago, Mary Beth Lasseter, Kristen Meehan and a few others decided Vicksburg needed a seasonal produce market. It wasn’t a government project. No federal grants were involved. They got busy and the market was born.

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This year it will start on June 5 near the Catfish Row Art Park and continue on Saturday mornings and Wednesday afternoons until area fields are picked clean. As usual, there also will be baked goods, arts and crafts and music as part of the shopping experience — but the stars of the show will be the aforementioned veggies plus cucumbers, peaches, peppers, berries, watermelon and other seasonal delights.

Get there early. Vicksburg has shown it has an appetite for “fine dining,” and there’s nothing finer than what local growers have to offer.

Residents here don’t have to think back long to remember City Front as empty and ignored. It’s back — with the art park, Junior Auxiliary playground, Riverfront Murals and splash fountain. Construction of a Corps of Engineers interpretive center is under way and remodeling of the Levee Street Depot is to start soon.

Supporting the market this summer is a gift we can give ourselves and certainly helps enhance the vibrancy of Vicksburg as a community.