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Farmers market unites Belle Plaine residents

Renee Jones Schneider, Star Tribune

Evie Kruschki gave Dorothy Miller her change after she bought some of her baked goods at the Belle Plaine farmers market last week.

The new venture is not just about food but connecting a community with two distinct halves: newcomers and old-timers.

By DAVID PETERSON, Star Tribune

Last update: June 23, 2009 - 4:35 PM

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TO FIND A MARKET

At Startribune.com, visit the Taste page (dropdown under "Lifestyle") and scroll down to the Farmers Markets logo.

ABOUT BELLE PLAINE'S

When: 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through October

Where: Court Square Park, off Hwy. 25 near the Minnesota River bridge (410 Cedar St. N.)

To sell: $10 per week, or $100 for an unlimited pass

For info: Lisa Fahey, 952-873-5665, Diane Skelley, 952-873-2467, or belleplainemarket@hotmail.com

Sponsor: Belle Plaine Historical Society

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Where to begin at the new farmers market in Belle Plaine?

With the guy from New Prague who brings 25 dozen hyper-fresh eggs of all sizes and tints and speckles -- and sells them all in the first 90 minutes to folks who can tell them from store-bought just by the color of the yolk?

With the lady from Green Isle who scours her acres of prairie grasses for wild elderberries, gooseberries and grapes, then cans them as jellies and jams?

How about the homemaker from town whose husband bikes over with brown paper bags bearing warm herb-scented bread just plucked from the oven?

"This thing has really taken off already," said Tim Lies, mayor of Belle Plaine, barely able to hold all his purchases with just two arms. "It's not a good time of year for produce yet. There's not a lot to sell. Asparagus, rhubarb, radishes, early season stuff. But already, just a month into it, there's a really steady clientele, with cars parked around the block."

Yet it's not just about food, organizers say. It's also about community: about helping to knit together a town that suddenly exploded in size a few years ago, with suburban-style subdivisions sprouting across the highway from the core of the town once a new bridge and freeway bypass brought a sleepy village much closer to Twin Cities jobs.

"There are so many new people," said the market's co-organizer, Diane Skelley, who has a business downtown. "But it's such a bedroom community, you don't see them. You talk to people at school and they're like, 'I didn't even know you had a hardware store.'"

"They shop at Cub or Target on their commute home. They have no idea what's here. I've had people call and ask directions to the market. We have BBQ Days, which is a huge community event. A family who'd lived here five years didn't know it was happening. And I'm like, 'You didn't see the fireworks? Come on.'"

But the new people are just as entertaining on the subject of the old-timers and their typical Minnesotan "wait-and-see" coolness when it comes to fresh faces.

Lisa Jamison, the bread baker, has lived across the highway for eight years. She agrees that, "to a point, the new people drive to Chaska or Shakopee, where it's comfortable," to do a lot of things. A lot of them are from those cities originally. "They don't know what's going on in town here."

But the old-timers need to realize, she added, how it feels from the other side.

"It takes many, many years for people to even greet you, even though they see you all the time. You can go to the bank and see the same teller for four years before they finally go, 'Hey, how's it goin'?' Same with the coffee shop: You feel like walking up to them and saying, 'I know you know me!'"

The farmers market is one place where all sides can gather at leisure and be drawn into conversation. The kids, torn from video games, can run together through the park alongside the booths. At the same time, it's a connection between town and countryside: suddenly the farmer who's no more than a dot on the horizon becomes a real person, explaining her methods and ideals.

Skelley was surprised last Wednesday to be able to count 15 vendors, even though three of her regulars were missing. Up until then it had been running at closer to 10.

"It's been very successful for me to come here," said Judy Luskey, of Green Isle, the jelly lady. "These things are spreading. Le Sueur has had one for a couple of years. Henderson is trying to get one started. I have older people come up to the table and pick up one of these jars -- elderberry or gooseberry jam -- and say, 'My mom used to make these!'"

David Peterson • 952-882-9023

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