BEATRICE – Thursday was week number three for the Main Street Beatrice Farmer’s Market, using a new location this year…..the parking lot of Centenary United Methodist Church along U.S. Highway 77.
“The new location is working out really well for us. We were really happy that Centenary United Methodist Church was willing to let us be here. I think it has good visibility off of the highway, so our customers are able to find us. Of course, the other location had that also. (8th and Court) But, it’s been working very well for customers…nice parking lot, nice location. I’m really looking forward to what the season holds.”
Changeable weather this year has altered arrival time of some produce, according to Main Street Beatrice Executive Director Michael Sothan.
“The spring has been all over the map, weather-wise…and that definitely creates some challenges for our farmers. It doesn’t really impact our craft vendors, our baked goods folks…but our farmers, it does set some things off. We’re seeing a huge impact of strawberries right now. Usually they start through the very end of May through June. We’re seeing the biggest strawberry harvest that we’ve seen in a few years. There are some things that have come early, some things later, just because of the weather.”
Many of the vendors who have been with the Beatrice Farmer’s Market for several years are back again, along with some new faces this year.
Senior Citizens can get some help purchasing fresh items through a coupon program operated by the State of Nebraska. Sothan says they are distributed through the Beatrice Senior Center, as long as the supply lasts.
“They’re meant to help seniors get access to more fruits and vegetables. They can be used on things like raw honey, fruits and vegetables and they are given a booklet of those coupons. They are given a limited amount of those. They can use that at approved vendors. Vendors have to be certified with the State of Nebraska to accept them. Luckily, we have several vendors that are.”
The senior coupons are being distributed Friday morning from 9 until 11, at the Beatrice Senior Center.
The Main Street Beatrice Farmer’s Market is each Thursday starting at four p.m. and running to six-thirty p.m., again at a new location this year….the parking area of Centenary United Methodist Church. The Farmer’s Market will extend through mid-October.
