Alton Farmers and Artisans Market opens 34th season Downtown
From smoked cream cheese to handmade chessboards, Alton Market draws crowds
A more than three-decade tradition returned to Downtown Alton on Saturday as the 34th annual season of the Alton Farmers and Artisans Market returned to the parking lot at the corner of Landmarks Blvd. and Henry Street.
Vendors displayed the freshest local produce, foods, crafts, and other products, and scores of people jammed the parking lot to take advantage of the market’s openingday selections.
“There’s something here for everyone, and they’ve upped their game the last couple of years with actual food vendors on site," said long-time market shopper Lyree Price from East Alton. "I can’t get enough of it."
Price and her son have their favorite vendors that they try to visit every year.
“Today we are buying car vent clips and home décor items,” Price said. “We are also looking for strawberries, plants for our house, and Pokémon items.”
Collinsville resident Jeanna Stallard liked the selection of fresh onions and rhubarb offered by one vendor.
“His rhubarb is beautiful looking, I might use some to make strawberry rhubarb pie,” Stallard said as she examined the green and purple stalks. “I also like the smoked cream cheese that I found at another booth.”
Native plants were on Kat Collins Booth’s agenda Saturday, and the Godfrey resident found a good selection at the Farmers and
Artisans Market.
“I’m looking at a New England Aster right now, I’m trying to improve my native plant section,” Collins Booth said. “I was ready for spring two months ago, and this market, which is one of the biggest I have ever seen, really puts me even more in the springtime mood.”
Another Godfrey resident, Rhonda Roloff, was helping her sister to sell custom-made, puppy-shaped fiber planter baskets filled with live plants.
“These are the best things for sale at this market, but I’m a little bit biased,” Roloff said as she sold another planter. “I mean, puppies and plants, who wouldn’t like that?”
People also seemed to like the custom-made chessboards made by Alijah Nunn from Edwardsville, and he had a steady stream of admirers looking at his work.
“I saw somebody do this on TikTok and I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to make it better,’” Nunn said.
“I was eventually able to hone my craft, and now I build everything from scratch with wood, epoxy, and other materials.”
If Nunn were to be a chess piece, which one would he prefer?
“The king, of course!” Nunn said, and added, “This is my first time doing this market, and lots of people are stopping by and taking my number, so it looks like I’ll be making a lot of chessboards thanks to this event.”
The Alton Farmers and Artisans Market operates every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon through Oct. 17.
Riverside Flea Market opens season with antiques, crafts and curiosities Grafton’s bustling ea market o ers unexpected treasures
Everything you want, and many items you didn’t realize you wanted, could be found in Grafton as the community hosted the opening weekend of the popular Riverside Flea Market at the Loading Dock.
The Riverside Flea Market is held the fourth weekend of every month from April through October and features an ever-changing mix of antiques, handmade crafts, vintage finds, collectibles, and unique curiosities.
Jerseyville resident Joyce Weiskopf “likes to gather things,” and added that “I always need something I find here, so I’ll find something today.”
“I like this flea market, I come every year,” Weiskopf said. “My advice if you come is to wear comfortable shoes and bring a wallet.”
Mike Olszewsky from St. Louis brought his shoes and wallet and walked away with a purchase he didn’t know he needed until he saw it.
“This antique sphere caught my eye, and I decided that I wanted it,” Oslzewsky said, and added, “If you come here, just have fun and enjoy the weather.”
Hot Wheels aficionado
Larry Tuttle from Manchester, Missouri, was enjoying the hunt for the iconic racing toys and struck the jackpot with one vendor who offered hundreds of the little cars.
“If I see a certain car that my wife or I have owned, then I like to get the Hot Wheels version of it,” Tuttle said. “I am looking for a 1969 Camaro for her, and I might be able to find it here.”
Mallory Clark from Berea, Kentucky, and her friend
Jasmine Shipley from Champaign, Illinois, were first-time Riverside Flea Market visitors and were impressed by what they found.
“We found some fun trinkets plus some autographed baseballs that I didn’t know I needed until now,” Clark said.
Shipley added that the huge flea market was “pretty cool” and “there’s still a lot of stuff we have to see and maybe buy.”
Moro resident William Lehnen was at the flea market more to “kill time and visit people,” but admitted he might buy something if it struck his fancy.
“If there’s posters or Betty Bop stuff, I might get it,” Lehnen said. “There’s just a little bit of everything here, so you never know.”
that keep shoppers coming
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MARYVILLE
Why turtle deaths plunged along Route 67 after agencies quietly changed the landscape Turtles in West Alton are safer after Missouri o cials add U.S. 67 protections
Turtles looking for mates or nesting sites in West Alton are less likely to be killed by vehicles since state and federal officials put measures in place to protect them.
Caleb J. Knerr, senior environmental specialist with the Missouri Department of Transportation, said MoDOT, the Missouri Department of Conservation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers teamed up to implement measures designed to keep turtles off the road along the dangerous stretch of U.S. Route 67 that runs past the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary.
MoDOT installed a rock berm in 2024 that runs along the western edge of Teal Pond, the impoundment behind the Rivers Edge gas station at the entrance to Riverlands. The berm, 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide, prevents turtles from accessing the highway along that stretch.
The Corps of Engineers also planted native tallgrass prairie around Teal Pond.
“That area historically had been mowed by the corps or the state,” said Tyler Goble, lead wildlife biologist with the Rivers Project Office, located in Riverlands. The
office manages a 300-mile stretch of the Mississippi River and the lower 80 miles of the Illinois River for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“It was allowed to grow up as another deterrent for the turtles that wanted to cross there,” he said.
“It’s not as easy for them to move through the tallgrass prairie as it would be to move through a mowed roadside.”
The two measures combined are designed to discourage turtles from trying to reach the highway in the stretch where concrete barriers divide the northbound and southbound lanes. Farther south
on U.S. 67, where no barriers are in place, turtles can still take their chances crossing the highway.
“The idea was to eliminate the possibility that the turtles could access the road at the area where there is a median barrier and then to funnel them to the location where there is no barrier,” Knerr said.
During the summer of 2023, hundreds of turtles from several species were struck by traffic on U.S. 67 just across the Clark Bridge from Alton, on the stretch of highway bordering the western side of Riverlands.
At a public meeting in March 2024
at the Audubon Center at Riverlands, officials with the Missouri Department of Transportation acknowledged that their 2023 highway work caused turtles to be struck by vehicles. MoDOT installed a concrete wall dividing the northbound and southbound lanes near the bridge as part of a project to elevate the lanes.
Unfortunately, turtles trying to cross the highway in that stretch found their progress blocked by the wall, which resulted in numerous reptiles being hit by vehicles and killed. Speakers at the 2024 meeting recalled how some motorists stopped and tried to assist the animals.
Although turtles were struck in July 2023 in both the northbound and southbound lanes of U.S. 67, most of the incidents occurred in the northbound lanes closest to Riverlands, Goble said.
“That time of year is mating and egg-laying season,” he said. “The turtles were probably looking for suitable mates and nesting habitat.
“They were kind of playing ‘Frogger’ on the road. The construction had it down to one lane (in each direction), and people driving through couldn’t avoid them. It was a combination of bad luck.”
The animals killed included terrestrial box turtles and aquatic species, such as red-eared sliders and snapping turtles.
Knerr confirmed that no known Missouri Species of Conservation Concern or federally threatened or endangered species had been reported struck in 2023.
The combination of the rock berm and the tallgrass prairie apparently has been effective in reducing the number of turtles struck by vehicles, both Goble and
Knerr said.
“It kind of acts as a deterrent, forcing (turtles) to cross the road where there’s not a concrete divider,” Goble said. “It encourages them to cross the road farther south.
“We drive through there on just about a daily basis,” he said about the Rivers Project Office employees. “It appears to be working, just as we drive it visually. Since the project began, there has been a decline in the average vehicle strike ratio.”
Knerr said there have been no further mass vehicle strikes of turtles in the area, such as those documented in July 2023.
“MoDOT tracks customer calls on dead animals in the roadway that pose a safety or other concern,” he said. “Based on the data that is reported to MoDOT, this mitigation appears to be effective in reducing turtle strikes by vehicles.”
