Farmers Market opens with sunny day

n Vendors offered a wide range of things, from boxes and boc choi to strawberries and butterflies.

Shirley Burks, left, stands at a produce stand owned by Choua Moua, while Sandy Hoyt, Evelynn Gillespie, Owen Gillespie and Amy Gillespie talk with Jai Lor about purchasing strawberries.
Shirley Burks, left, stands at a produce stand owned by Choua Moua, while Sandy Hoyt, Evelynn Gillespie, Owen Gillespie and Amy Gillespie talk with Jai Lor about purchasing strawberries.

Keith Bryant

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The first Bella Vista Farmers Market of the season featured vendors of all sorts, including produce stalls, wood workers and food preparers.

"I'm excited, I think we have a lot of room for growth," market manager Samantha Mosher said Sunday as shoppers walked from stall to stall.

She was also glad the weather shifted just in time for the event -- cool, cloudy and wet weather gave way to a bright, sunny day.

Jai Lor showed up and tended to a stall full of veggies -- primarily greens with a single corner dedicated to bright red strawberries -- grown on a farm owned by his wife, Choua Moua.

The berries, he said, are very difficult to grow, while the vegetables he had for sale -- including bok choi -- are fairly typical early crops.

He works daily, he said, on a relatively small farm. Taking care of weeds, he said, is probably one of the biggest challenges. If he doesn't keep them in check, he said, they will overrun his crops.

"I do what I have, I have a little land and I mostly use my own hands," he said. "We don't count the labor."

Rogers resident Mike Rothmeier showed up with an assortment of wooden boxes. He tries to feature knots in the wood, he said, to give the boxes a more distinct look.

He's been working with wood all his life and started doing boxes about a year ago when he was looking for something smaller to put together. He sells them primarily to make space so he can make more boxes.

"I had so many lying around," he said. "Wife said 'you better sell some.'"

Another vendor, Wesley Vanderhoff, runs Area 57 Snowcones, which also makes kettle corn. He was working on kettle corn at the market, pouring oil and kernels, then stirring in sugar as the popcorn cooked.

"I loved kettle corn growing up," he said. "I've tried making it on the stove, (but) you don't have room to work with."

He dumped the massive, silver kettle over to throw fresh, sweet popcorn into a bin before dumping it all into a sifter to get any unpopped kernels out.

There's a lot of trial and error in getting it right, he said. For example, salt needs to go on after the kettle corn is cooked, he said, or it won't taste quite right.

On its first day, he said, the market proved enjoyable.

"I like it, it's a great atmosphere," he said.

Mary Jane Deeley showcased her paintings next door to Vanderhoff's stall. The paintings were on boards and sealed with three coats of polyurethane, she said, so they can be placed outdoors.

"I've been painting for 80 years," she said.

She's attracted to bright colors and flowers, she said, and tends to favor natural scenes -- though they aren't always the easiest.

"The butterfly was OK," she said, motioning to a closeup painting of a monarch butterfly. "But that took about five years off my life."

Shirley Burks came to the market in part because it's convenient, she said. She lives just up the hill from it, so it's an easy trip -- so much easier than going to Bentonville's market.

She was impressed, she said, with prices at the market, and she loves having access to it.

"They give you good services and products," she said, "you come back."

General News on 04/26/2017