Market celebrates 80th anniversary

When the Kerrytown Farmers' Market opened 80 years ago it was just that - a farmers' market.

Local farmers went there to sell everything from cucumbers to chickens. In the past 30 years, the Farmers' Market has expanded to include arts and crafts.

"It has become a Saturday morning experience," said Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon, who presented longevity awards in a ceremony to honor veteran vendors.

In celebration of the Farmers' Market's 80th anniversary many stalls offered free samples of various goods. The bands Delta 88 and Old #7 provided music during Saturday's market.

Longevity awards were given to more than two dozen vendors who have been selling at the Farmers' Market for at least 30 years.

JOANNA PAINE/Daily Noel Schiller, a second year graduate student, purchases onions from a vendor at the Kerrytown Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Mildred Parker has been selling at the Farmers' Market for 57 years.

"During the war there was no meat, and we had chickens," Parker said. The demand for chickens was so great, there were more people in line than there were chickens to sell, Parker said. "I had to go down the line and tell people to leave,"

Although chickens can no longer be sold at the Farmers' Market due to health code restrictions Parker's still operates a stall and now offers her quilts, baby clothes and other crafts.

Robert Dieterle, a Saline resident, started selling at the Farmers' Market along with his mother 73 years ago, the longest of any of the vendors. He and his wife, Louetta, have been selling together for 60 years - today they raise and sell flowers. "It's a lot of work, (but) I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it," Louetta Dieterle said.

Another flower vendor, Brigitte Spar, said her family has been selling at the market for 43 years. "It's my kind of life," Spar said. "I can do what I like and still get money."

The Kierczak family started selling vegetables at the Farmers' Market 72 years ago, when Al Kierczak was eight years old. He and his wife still work 20 acres of land; their vegetables are "hand-picked with tender loving care," he said.

Hand-picked fruit attracts shoppers who prefer the taste of fresh fruit. "There are a lot of things here that you can't get at any other place, like fresh raspberries," said Geraldine Suver, who has been shopping at the Farmers' Market for 10 years. "The stores have frozen fruit. You can get fresh fruit here with no (pesticide) spray."

The Farmers' Market attracts people from many different areas. "We've sold rugs to people from all over the country just from being here," said Ray Sabo, a rug seller at the market. Some of his wife's, Virginia, rugs are made from recycled denim and courderoy.

In today's urban environment, the Farmers' Market is a reminder of "old days, of harder times," said Coleman Jewett, a furniture seller.

Jewett makes and sells furniture from pine wood. He said he decides what to haggle depending on the quality of his buyer's footwear.

"Wear cheap shoes," he jokingly suggested. "I look at students' feet. If they're wearing expensive shoes, they have to pay more." "I treat college kids like I would like them to treat my kids if they went away ... it's tough," he said. Jewett's hand-made bookshelves cost less than many textbooks.

The Kerrytown Farmers' Market, located on Detroit Street in Ann Arbor, is open Saturdays and Wednesdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. until Dec. 24.

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