FARMERS `OPEN-AIR' MARKET TO OPEN AT CAPE GIRARDEAU THIS WEEK

Farmers and gardeners will put their wares on display this week when the Cape Girardeau Farmers Markets opens its weekly open-air market.

Thursday afternoon, shoppers can snatch up some fresh produce in the Plaza Galleria parking lot along 2001 Independence St., said Marilyn Peters, market manager.

Peters, of Cape Girardeau, and her family grow vegetables on a farm in the Bertrand/Charleston area.

This is the 12th year for the market, which will be open from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

This is a weekly market and a good variety of home-grown produce and bedding plants from local farms and gardens will be offered for sale, said Peters.

Items for the first market will include radishes, onions, spinach, herbs, asparagus, rhubarb and flowers and bedding plants.

All products are grown in Missouri or Illinois, within about a 60-mile radius of Cape Girardeau and are sold directly by the grower.

The Cape Girardeau market is one of more than 60 officially recognized in Missouri.

Unofficially, there are many more when you count all the roadside stands and truck tailgates in Missouri towns where surplus produce from family gardens is sold.

The Galleria market was designed for vendors who have sell fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers. Those who sell jelly, jams and baked goods must have produced the principal ingredient included in the product, said Peters.

The Cape Girardeau market includes a list of 18 members.

"Some won't be there for the first week or two," said Peters. "But, we expect anywhere from six to 10 growers this week."

Don and Afton Menees, of Southern Illinois, will be at the Thursday market. "We have already been selling a number of items -- spinach, turnip greens, onions, and mustard greens -- at a Saturday market in Carbondale, Ill.," Afton Menees said.

"This has not been a good year yet," she said. "We have had to work around the wet weather."

The family, who has a grain farm near Anna, grow vegetables on about three to four acres.

"It's our garden," Menees said.

The Menees specialize in potatoes, but also offer tomatoes, peppers and blackberries, which will be ready later.

They have had better luck in the Bertrand/Charleston area.

"We have a sandy soil, and the rain hasn't been too much of a factor yet," Peters said. "We should have asparagus, radishes, rhubarb and few other vegetables."

Other vegetables will be added to the list throughout the growing seasons:

Potatoes and peas should start appearing by Memorial Day; strawberries and squash by mid-May; sweet corn in late June; tomatoes by the July 4; and green beans in early June.

Many of the growers who appear at the Cape Girardeau market also set up at the Carbondale market.

The Carbondale market, which has been in existence a number of years, opened the first weekend in April. It is held each Saturday morning in parking lot along Route 13 in the eastern section of the city.