The Collegian

Issue date: 10/1/09 Section: Down the Hill

Each Saturday morning, local farmers gather at the Hillsdale County Courthouse parking lot where they prepare for a day of selling their homegrown and homemade goods.

Some vendors create elaborate displays with flashy, colorful signs, while others simply sell their items from the beds of their trucks.

Everything from fresh produce such as beans, peppers, and lettuce, to homemade goods such as breads, donuts, and syrup can be found among the various stands that line the edges of the parking lot.

Some vendors also sell home-raised meat products, like goat meat and sausage.

While the amount and type of items vary from stand to stand, due mainly to the size of the respective vendors' farms and gardens, quality abounds.

Most vendors make the event a family affair and children can be seen setting up stands and helping their parents unload colorful baskets of produce.

Despite the gloomy economy in Hillsdale, Mich., one business in particular is still thriving: the farmers market, which not only serves as a venue for local famers and producers to sell homemade and homegrown goods to the local community, but also as a place for community gatherings and reunions of old friends.

"Business has been really good since Labor Day," said Cindy Magda, a local farmer from Jonesville, Mich. "The area merchants seem to like it and it brings business to the community. So it's a win-win situation for everyone."

According to George and Norma Carpenter, a married couple in their 80s who own the local organic produce business Carpenter's Greenhouse and Produce, business has never been better.

"We've been working different markets since the 1960s and this year has been the best year ever, despite the recession, which seems strange," George said.

But, after relating stories about friends, neighbors and newborns in the community, the Carpenters added that good business isn't the only thing that keeps them coming to this particular market.

"The market in Ann Arbor is the elite market - we send our kids there every weekend and we do great there - but we're getting old so we like to stay close to home with the people we know," said George, as Norma teased that she wasn't the one getting old.

George said that the market in Kerry Town in Ann Arbor sells everything from produce to artwork and is the largest market he had ever been to. It is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the growing season and, according to George, is very lucrative. But he said he still prefers the people here in Hillsdale.

Lowell and Amy Huepenbecker said they agreed with the Carpenters. After joking about how their children, two of which were playing video games in a van nearby, were a great help, the Huepenbeckers said they appreciate the community atmosphere present at the Hillsdale Farmers Market.

"We have a lot more fun here, dealing with our neighbors," said Amy, as she walked over to help a regular customer. "Our goal is to provide for local people as well as local merchants and businesses."

At the next stand another vendor, Pam Benzing, also said she loved the community here in Hillsdale.

"There is definitely a reason to be here on a Saturday morning," said Benzing. "Business has been great, but so have the people."

The vendors eagerly talked about their businesses and most popular products, when they weren't telling stories of farmers market antics.

Scott Kolasa, owner of K's Acres, a fruit and vegetable farm, said their raspberries and peaches are best-sellers at their stand, perhaps because of the fruits' rarity among Hillsdale farmer's market vendors. He added that these fruits have been best-sellers all summer.

Both the Magdas and Carpenters, who sell mainly vegetables, agreed that beans have been the most popular item this summer.

All the vendors plan to continue working at the farmers market until it ends - or until they run out of products to sell.

Originally, the farmers market was supposed to last for only another week, but last Thursday, the market's committee voted to extend the farmers market through the last weekend of October due to the high demand of goods and the growing popularity of the market.

"We're happy they decided to extend the market through October. We've had such a great time," Norma Carpenter said.

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