By Colleen Nelson
It will soon be another scorching hot July day in Waynesburg but it’s not there just yet. Tucked into the cool shadows of Washington Street, rows of tables and pop-ups on both sides let you know it’s a farmers market Wednesday morning. Shoppers with bags are heading to their cars while others like me are just arriving to say hello and browse the fresh picked produce Harden Family Farm has been bringing weekly since the market opened, right on time in spite of COVID-19, on May 13.
I’ve done my morning chores in record time and made it to High Street as the courthouse clock strikes 11am. I’m ready to be charmed by a vegetable that isn’t in my garden, happy to schmooze with folks I haven’t seen in a year. I’m here to shop local and I’m delighted by a new normal that is as alive and friendly as any normal I can remember.
When Greene County came out of lockdown and tiptoed into code yellow, spring was in full bloom. Waynesburg Farmers Market Facebook page urged the public to mask up and shop downtown for homegrown produce, baked goods and goodies, farm raised meats and sandwiches to go. By June and code green, more vendors were added and by July, the County of Greene and Lions Club Park began hosting their own market on Tuesday evenings, along with the Sounds of Summer – live music in the handsome new amphitheater. Summer life was working on its new normal and rolling with the glitches. Carmichaels pool opened, then closed due to a lack of lifeguards but its passes are being honored at Waynesburg pool, which is open to the public and is also hosting the county Summer Day Camp for kids. The day camp usually has six sites countywide but this year has been limited to the one in Waynesburg and all kids are welcome. Director of Recreation Bret Moore tells me other good things are in the works. The 4-H Horse and Pony Club has new members boarding their horses at the Fairgrounds and enjoying their evening rides around the tracks. Improvements are happening on the Greene River Trail which runs from Greene Cove Marina to Jessop Boat Club in Carmichaels that will make art part of the landscape. Two 20-foot murals to celebrate the journey this path along the Monongahela River has taken, from Indigenous tribes in their canoes to the present-day bikers and hikers are already in the works. (I stop by mural artist Jim Winegar’s studio in Richhill Township to donate some brushes to the project and see how work is progressing. It’s really quite a production, a story in itself. Stay tuned!)
I chose to shop Waynesburg Farmers Market on July 17 because the Rain Day Committee is here. Festival chair Athena Bowman tells me this year’s festival is a hybrid of traditional decorated downtown windows mixed with the COVID-19 need for distancing, with virtual entertainment, including contests, live speeches and an all day lineup of music to tune into on the Rain Day Facebook page. The festival booth is filled with memorabilia, including T-shirts and the schedule of events that are available ahead of time. Stop by Waynesburg Borough office during business hours for what you need.
Miss Rain Day 2019 Katie Swauger and her court of 2020 candidates have also come to the market to collect canned goods for the Miss Rain Day food drive. Their pageant night performances at Carmichaels High School will be on Facebook at 3pm on Rain Day.
In a nice twist of the calendar year, July 29 falls on a Wednesday so farmers market shoppers will get to watch in real time as the umbrella contest is judged on the courthouse steps starting at 10:30am. They will also get to sample the products of new vendors that joined the market in June. Dyers Fork Farm is almost sold out by the time I get there but they tell me their gardens are coming on strong. Kiln to Table is busy dishing so I wave and grab a three-berry muffin from Sue’s Bakery and exchange virtual hugs as we catch up on another year. My green thumb friend from Isaac Walton League days Rebecca Trigger is a new market regular and I get to sniff sachets of the latest addition to her 140 acre native plant preserve and nursery – Lavender Phenomenal. Its tag says it’s the “new gold standard variety in lavender markets across the globe.” I take an educated sniff and am taken by the potent aroma that fills my senses and lingers on my fingers as I hold the freshly dried bundles. Rebecca tells me she drove to Bucks County early in the spring to get her starters and now has two rows 120 feet long in production.
Totally relaxed from sniffing lavender with Rebecca, I head back to Hardens Family Farm, am charmed by some beautifully mature hot peppers – mine are the size of my little finger at the moment – and an adorable basket of baby beets. Then I head head home to my kitchen. What to do with baby beets? Martha Stewart pops up on Google to inform me that pickled and speared with a fancy skewer, baby beets make a dramatic “earthy flavored” addition to a chilled gin and vermouth martini called Bleeding Heart. Recipe to follow. Well now! Looks like I need juniper berries. Hmmm….
Shop local. Be safe. See you at the Rain Day Umbrella Contest on the 29th!