Rogers Farmers Market serving up local goodness
Posted on Friday, July 18, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/63814/
ROGERS — Peaches, sweet corn, okra and squash, oh my ! The Rogers Farmers Market is serving up something for everyone from 7 a. m. to 1 p. m. Wednesdays and Saturdays through Oct. 24.
For the young ones, the market offers face painting, balloons and puppet shows.
The market has a heaping helping of some of the freshest and tastiest vegetables in the region. Just ask John Obenshain of Clifty, and he will tell you the market is the place to come for vegetables, especially for good, quality tomatoes like the ones he sells.
Obenshain, a vendor at the market, has been selling his homegrown tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, okra, squash and garlic for more than eight years.
“ We (Obenshain and his wife ) retired in 1991, and the main thing (selling at the market ) is just to pass the time. It is a hard-working hobby, ” Obenshain said.
For the market this year, Obenshain stagger planted 400 tomato plants to be able to keep up with the demand and to make sure he would have enough to last through the first frost of the fall. If shoppers want to get their hands on Obenshain’s tomatoes, though, they will have to get to the market early because the fruit is one of the first things Obenshain sells out.
During Wednesday’s market, Obenshain sold out of tomatoes and okra before 9: 30 a. m.
Also selling at the market is Joe LaRoche of Rogers, who has beehives all over Benton County. Honey farming has been a hobby of LaRoche’s for more than 35 years, so it is pretty safe to say that he knows a thing or two about good honey and getting stung. LaRoche hopes to sell 125 gallons of honey this year, especially since he sold out of the nectar within a couple of months at last year’s market.
For Randy Pennington of Pea Ridge, selling at the market is a family affair. Pennington peddles wooden cutting boards and utensils handcrafted by him and his father in Rogers and seasoned with olive oil by his mother.
Pennington also offers a variety of homegrown and hand-blended spices.
Having every imaginable fresh fruit and vegetable side by side with arts and crafts is a main draw for many shoppers to the Rogers Farmers Market.
“ We saw it on TV, and we have been wanting to come out here for weeks, ” Robert Martin of Rogers said Wednesday. “ I came out to see what they have to offer, and it looks like we got a lot of nice-looking vegetables and different types of jellies and jams. ”
The Rogers Farmers Market can be found in downtown Rogers at the corner of Arkansas and Elm streets.