Fresh food and crafts still available in Clintonville
By Bert Lehman
The Main Street reconstruction in Clintonville hasn’t stopped the weekly farmers market in Clintonville.
The farmers market, which takes place each Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. in the Clintonville Community Center parking lot during the summer months, began June 4.
At the June city council meeting, Mayor Judy Magee told the council that there were seven vendors the first week. This was prior to the start of Main Street reconstruction.
“All of them indicated that they did very well,” Magee told the council.
She added, “One of the vendors told me that his wife told him not to come home with anything that he took. He sold all but two items.”
A similar amount of vendors were set up at the Farmers Market on July 2.
David Polzin of Marion was selling “whirly gates” that day.
“Years ago a lot of people had them,” Polzin said. “I got some patterns and I thought I’d start making some.”
He began making them around 10 years ago. He does all the cutting and painting required to make the items.
“I usually make six at a time of the same thing. It’s Henry Ford’s idea,” Polzin added, referring to Ford’s assembly line concept.
Polzin said he has sold quite a few of the “whirly gates,” but the compliments he has received outweigh the money.
Also set up was Jesse Krueger of Wolf River Farms in Clintonville.
Krueger had fresh sugar snap peas for sale.
Wolf River Farms is a regular at the farmers market. Krueger said they had strawberries available the first few weeks. He described the strawberry crop as “average.”
“We had it really good in the beginning and then after we got those four to five days of rain a lot of the crop got really soft really fast,” Krueger said.
He added that the pea crop is “phenomenal” so far.
“For us it will last about two months because we stagger our planting in three stages so we can keep everybody in the peas for at least two months,” he said.
Green beans will be available soon, which will followed by blueberries and raspberries, and then sweet corn, tomatoes, onions, and squash.
“All summer we’re busy,” Krueger said.
He added that the Main Street reconstruction has slowed the farmers market a little.
“Last year we had probably five to six times this many but this project slowed things down a lot,” he said. “Otherwise it’s a very good market.”