The Changing Face of the Farmers Market

IT’S CALLED THE FARMERS MARKET, but it’s not the exclusive territory of farmers. Many of the stalls filled with brightly colored fruits and vegetables are run by dealers who buy their products from farmers or produce houses and resell them to shoppers. Long gone is Bert’s Cafe, a market mainstay in 1941 when the city of. Dallas took over operation and management of what was then called the Municipal Produce Market.

Gone too is the Western Cafe on Pearl, another longtime favorite, Old-timers who have been working the market for decades now hawk their green beans and cabbage not far from a new, slick-looking food kiosk and gourmet food shed offering such exotica as Cinnamon Carrot Relish, Basil Roasted Walnut Cheese, and Peach Mustard Sauce.

Bur Dallas is still recognised nationally as having a true farmers market-where shoppers can buy produce picked hours before iron the farmers who grew it. And for the juiciest vineripened tomatoes, the freshest English peas and on ions, the sweetest peaches, melons, and strawberries, and the spiciest green chilies-all at amazingly low prices-devotees say downtown’s Farmers Market is still the premium place in Dallas to shop.

“We love coming down here,” says North Dallas housewife Anita Williams, examining tomatoes on a recent Saturday. She and her husband, John, president of a Dallas engineering firm, have shopped at

the market for 18 years. John stops twice during the week after finishing his business with downtown clients.

“Everything is so fresh, and the prices are always less than what you find in the grocery stores,” Anita says. “And we enjoy the atmosphere and the people here.”

That atmosphere will become even more enjoyable this month, when the first phases of the market’s $10 million renovation are concluded with grand opening festivities on March 17 and 18.

When the ribbons are cut and the corks are popped, those involved with the market will breathe a sigh of relief: During the two years of construction, many shoppers were confused by detours and unable to find their favorite vendors. Farmers disliked the new glassed- in shed because their produce wilted there and their customers didn’t want to park and walk to reach them. Some even accused the market administration of giving preferential treatment to dealers. Specialty food vendors whom administrators had moved into the new shed weren’t happy either: Their rents went up and their customer traffic slowed.

Sales declined, farmers and dealers grumbled, and some vendors bailed out. During fiscal year 1993-94, revenues were approximately $347,000 below projections.

But hopes are high that once shoppers learn their way around the redesigned market, they will return in record numbers.

“I think its going to be better than ever,” says Virginia Sides of Canton, a long-time vendor known by virtually everyone at the market as “the Pea Lady.” “During the construction a lot of people, particularly the elderly ones, didn’t know where to go. But that will change.”



THE CHILDREN LAUGH AS THEIR WAVING arms scatter the peanut-eating pigeons into a gray and white blur of wings.

“I almost got one,” cries 14-year-old Travis Van Campen to his cousin Ben Alison as the birds retreat to the safety of the beams above the farmers1 stalls.

“This is our first visit here,” explains his mother, Sherri Van Campen of Grapevine, as she examines a red basket overflowing with dark green jalapenos. “We were on our way to Old City Park with my brother and his family, who are visiting from Kansas, and thought we’d stop. We’ve always wanted to come.”

Families like the Van Campens and the Alisons, who spent more than an hour and $70 at the market that Saturday, are the type of customer the expanded farmers market wants to attract.

City officials also are wooing convention groups who want a unique setting for banquets and parties. At least one group, the Treasury Management Association, has already held a function during October in the new glassed-in green shed between Marilla and Taylor streets. The market’s new persona also caught the attention of the 100 members of the National Association of Produce Market Managers. Dallas is hosting the organisation’s annual convention here April. 29-May 3.

“The Farmers Market is a very important component of what’s going on downtown,” says Frank Poe, director of event facilities/cultural affairs for the city of Dallas. “We see the market in the future not only as a commercial hub for food dis-tribution, but as a backdrop for social functions and convention events.”

The economic impact of a thriving Farmers Market is significant. According to sources at the market, a 1991 study showed that, prior to construction:

●about five million wholesale and retail customers, market wholesale and retail merchants, tourists, and observers visited the market annually;

●the average retail customer spent $22 each trip;

direct retail sales totaled close to $37 million;

●the market accounted for almost 25 percent of the total fresh produce sales　for Dallas County;

●wholesalers at or around the market did $271 million in sales annually; and

●the market had a total retail impact of $676.5 million on the local economy.

Those figures have been lower during construction, says Sandra Turbeville, the market’s administrator/manager, who admits she found it difficult to please all parties during the past two years. She thinks the renovations will bring the numbers hack up.

“The market is a treasure that needs to be nurtured and developed,” says Turbe-ville. “But we can’t depend upon our peak season [June to August] to make it go. We’ve got to appeal to the people who not only want farm produce but cheeses and breads, meat, and fish [not available yet, but plans are in the works]-so you can get dinner at the Farmers Market.”

The redesign has not changed one tradition that many long-time Farmers Market shoppers like best. Customers may still drive through and park in three of the four sheds, a feature few markets elsewhere in the country offer, says former Park Board president Ida Papert, who now heads the Dallas Farmers Market Friends. But the roads have been redirected to eliminate through traffic on Pearl Street, making it safer to walk from shed to shed.

On weekends, shoppers can sample and buy gourmet food items in the green shed. In June, they’ll be able to enjoy blueberry and peach festivals, and in October, a Fall Festival.

The Dallas Farmers Market Friends also plan to bring back the Junior Farmer Show, honoring young farmers with awards and scholarships.

The renovated market also provides a place to sit outside and eat. A number of tables and a food kiosk are located on what used to be Pearl Street, between the green shed and the Jansen building, which housed the Western and then Frank’s cafes.

So there’s food aplenty, and more; In the newly built administration-resource building near I-30, shoppers can browse through a gift shop, take classes in cooking, canning, and gardening, and see cooking demonstrations- Separate rest-rooms for shoppers and vendors are also located there.

Rooted though they are in the past, retail markets like Dallas’ are the wave of the future, says NAPMM president Marty Bass, market master of the Benton Harbor Fruit Market in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The trend for grocery store chains to purchase directly from growers, he says, is eliminating the need for wholesale markets like his.

“A whole new world is being born-and birth is a painful thing,” says the 72-year old Bass, a former citrus grower who notes he hates to see the decline of the wholesale market as meeting place and clearing point. “Retail markets like Dallas are on the ascendancy. They’re vital and people love them.”



BILL BARRETT’S TIMING IS PERFECT. IT’S almost 2 p.m., and most of the lunch crowd has finished eating and left the Farmers Grill, a down-home restaurant and bar a few minutes from the market. That means the executive vice president of Willow Distributors Co.-who is always in a hurry-can eat and make a 2:30 appointment. Barrett describes the Farmers Grill-like the market itself-as a “melting pot” for the city.

“You see all kinds of people here-from City Council members to farmers,” he says as he downs a bowl of black bean soup and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. The contrast between his immaculately tailored coat and tie and the checkered shirts, cowboy hats, and gimme caps that populate the wood-paneled dining room illustrates his point. “It’s what I really like about this place-besides the great country cooking,” he says.

When Tony LaBarba looks at the Farmers Market today, he remembers being a boy in 1929, playing with his younger brother in front of the American Wine Company’s warehouse on the corner of Harwood and Cadiz.

From their vantage point, the two youngest sons of James LaBarba, produce wholesaler and international foods importer, watched as Mr. Pulley, the police officer they both feared and revered, tried to control a staggering, bearded drunk in front of the pool hall down the street.

Keeping tabs on the comings and goings at the pool hall, the adjacent liquor store, and the American Hotel was a primary source of entertainment for 5 -year-old Jo Jo and 7-year-old Tony, who were still too young to help with the family business like their older brothers Sherman, Ernest, and Carlo.

Mr. Pulley and the other police officer, Mr. Bob, were the law then, when the market was rough and wild and full of life. They spent a lot of time at the corner, ousting drifters and drunks and rowdy truck drivers. In those days the market was the international crossroads of Dallas, a place where Italian, Irish, and Jewish wholesale produce dealers bartered with German, Mexican, Czech, Greek, and black farmers.

It was a time when entire families ran businesses, people knew each other, and children learned at the knees of their neighbors as well as their parents. It was a time that Jo Jo La Barba, now 70 and a produce consultant, recalls with fondness.

“I loved the market. It was a wonderful and exciting place to grow up.”

HOW TO GET THERE AND WHERE TO PARK

If you are…

Driving west on I-30:Take Exit 46A and turn right (toward the Dallas skyline) at the first street (North Central Expressway). Look to your right tor the exit sign that says Farmers Market parking. That exit leads you to the new parking lot behind the market resource building.



Driving east on 1-30: Take Exit 46A and turn north (left) (toward the Dallas skyline) at the first street, Harwood. Turn right to park in any of several parking areas near the red, orange, and green sheds.



Driving north or south on I-75: Get on

Woodall Rodgers Freeway. Take the Pearl Street exit and go south on Pearl through downtown. To park, turn right or left on Young Street, go one block and follow the yellow and black Farmers Market signs.



Driving south on the Dallas North Tollway: Go through the tollbooths. Stay in the left lane to Harry Hines Boulevard. Follow the signs to the Pearl Street exit. Turn left on Pearl Street and follow it through downtown. To park, turn right or left on Young Street, go one block, and follow the Farmers Market signs.



Downtown: Go south on Pearl or Harwood to Young and follow the yellow and black Farmers Market signs to parking.



(When in doubt, follow the yellow and black Farmers Market trailblazer signs.)

Where’s the Cheese?

AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO THE NEW FARMERS MARKET

By Jeannette S. Keton

THE FRESHEST FRUITS and vegetables are the main reason to shop at the Dallas Farmers Market. But in and around the market you can also get great deals on flowers, shrubbery and ground cover, buy nuts and party goods at wholesale prices, and find a variety of gourmet foods and homemade crafts. And, if you come early enough, your food co-op can get fabulous buys at Wholesale Row.



WORDS OF ADVICE

The real farmers and the freshest produce are in the yellow and red sheds. Not everyone who sells produce at the Farmers Market is a farmer. The orange shed houses dealers and businesspeople who buy fruits and vegetables wholesale from farmers or cold storage warehouses and retail them to shoppers. A few dealers are also located in the yellow shed. All of the red shed and most of the yellow shed is reserved for farmers.

Farmers make the best deals early in the week and late in the day. Like to barter? Borne vendors do, some don’t. Those who do are more apt to reduce their prices if a) you’re buying a large quantity, b) it’s a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday (the slower part of the week) or c) it’s almost 6 o’clock (closing time). For best selection, however, and plenty of parking places, arrive early. When vendors sell out, they leave.

Ask for a taste first. One of the fun tilings about the Fanners Market is tasting. Vendors are usually very eager to entice you with a sample of their fresh fruit. And touring the green shed is like going to a gourmet version of Sam’s Warehouse. How about some Basil Roasted Walnut Cheese on a cracker?

You don’t always have to buy a basket. You may have heard you have to buy large quantities at the market. Untrue. Many-vendors will sell you part of a basket- especially if you are buying other items too. If you want only one red bell pepper and the basket holds four, offer the vendor a fourth of the basket price. If you do buy a basket, check the bottom. Quality at the farmers market is consistently high, and management monitors the vendors. But every so often those great looking beans at the top of the basket will hide some brown-spotted ones lurking at the bottom. Ask to look inside the sack before handing over your money; request an exchange if you get less than top quality produce.

And if the weather’s cool, dress warmly. In early spring (and late fall and winter), the temperature’s always a little lower at the Farmers Market. So if you’re planning to stay for a while, wear a coat.



IN THE MARKET: BEST BUYS

Wholesale Row: located in the red shed and in the parking lot between the red and orange sheds. It you’re in a food co-op, here’s the place to shop. But arrive early- like 2 a.m.During peak season (June, July, and August), farmers sell produce wholesale to distributors, grocery stores, and big restaurants from midnight until they sell out.

Green Shed: A wide variety of specially prepared and natural foods is sold here, including shiitake and portabello mushrooms, herbal jams and relishes, flavored mustards, gourmet coffee, and fresh bagels.

Cut flowers: Need some flowers for your centerpiece or a fresh bouquet? Carmine Peers of Marioly’s Wholesale in the orange shed offers a nice variety.

Plants for the garden: For annuals, some perennials, potted plants, shrubs, ground cover, and trees, try Ruibal’s, 601 Pearl; and Caliper Tree Farm north of the green shed inside the Farmers Market fence (the owner may barter).

NEAR THE MARKET: MORE GREAT FINDS

Hines Nut Company, 2404 CantonSt.:Get pecans, peanuts, walnuts, and almonds, and more at good prices.

Central Market Inc., 2111 Taylor St.: Central Market sells primarily to restaurants and caterers. But the general public can also buy institutional sizes of fresh produce, canned goods, cheeses, even frilled toothpicks. Great if you’re planning a really big bash!

Texas Palm Trees and Plants, 2023 Cadi: St.: Looking for cactus? Texas Palm Trees and Plants has one of the largest selections anywhere. The nursery, along with several others near the farmers market, sells flats of annuals and a few perennials at some of the lowest prices in town. They also offer shrubs and groundcover.

P & E Plants, 1204 S. Central Expressway: Great buys on flats of annuals and some perennials, as well as tropicals, herbs, shrubbery, trees, and groundcover.

Produce Picks



WHAT TO GET AND WHEN TO EXPECT IT



WHILE THE FARMERS MARKET IS A great place to get a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables, these are the ones you’ll not want to miss. The first harvests will come from South Texas farmers, and locally grown crops will become available in the weeks that follow. Call the Farmers Market hotline at 939-2808 for weekly-availability information.

Black-eyed Peas: Early May

Blackberries: June

Blueberries: June

Cantaloupes: June

Driscoll Strawberries: May*

English Peas: April

Israel Melons: Early August

Noonday and 1015 onions: June

Peaches and Plums: June

Raspberries: June

Tomatoes: late May

Watermelons: late May

White Potatoes: early spring



* Much sought after, but not locally grown. They come from California.