Piedmont Triad Farmers Market

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Photo by Chris Burritt/NWO Courtney Adams (left) and her mother, Helen Duncan, buy bouquets of fl owers at the farmers market to decorate their homes. Courtney’s son, Langston, stands in the center.

As farmers return to the Colfax market, selling cool-weather vegetables and owers now and tomatoes, corn and cantaloupes in coming months, the crowds are sure to follow

By CHRIS BURRITT

COLFAX – In her fi rst visit to the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market, Lucia Estevez-Peters paid $20 for a bouquet of fl owers. Wisps of white and pale purple sprouted from the paper wrap, hinting at the bounty coming later this spring and summer.

“We will come back,” said David Peters, Lucia’s husband. Later in the morning, the couple bought vegetables before returning to their home in Gibsonville in eastern Guilford County.

As the weather warms, vendors of pansies, tender lettuce, curled parsley and phlox are returning to the farmers market in Colfax, joining year-round shops and stands selling honey, eggs, cheese, soap and home décor.

A fi fth-generation farmer in southeastern Guilford County, Michael Blake is selling produce from Georgia, Florida and California until he’s able to produce his own tomatoes, corn, squash and watermelons.

“Things are locally grown and I think they are better,” said former Stokesdale Mayor John Flynt, shopping early on a recent Saturday morning in March for phlox and dianthus from Bethany Plants and Produce. Despite the chill and wind, the crowd grew steadily before noon, fi lling about half of the parking spaces that come summertime will be hard to fi nd.

A popular fi rst stop is Home Grounds, a coff ee shop inside of the Market Shoppes, an enclosed building. Vendors also sell from two large areas with roofs but no walls. continued onpage 36

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