December 2021 - 42

FARM MARKET & AGRITOURISM
Market customers still want quality product
By Dean Peterson
VGN Correspondent
I wasn't quite sure what to expect
at this farmers' market - set among
the towering buildings of a city's
downtown. I arrived early and watched
municipal workers with hard hats and
safety vests setting up utilities, saw
police cars had already blocked off
streets, and noticed countless orange
bags on parking meters reserving the
spaces for market exhibitors.
Centered in the heart of a city of
150,000 people, the Cedar Rapids
Downtown Farmers' Market in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, was indeed different,
and vegetable growers weren't that
easy to find.
As I walked around the
six-square-block center of the farmers'
market looking for vegetable growers
to talk to, everyone I asked gave me the
same answer, " Go talk to Gordon. He's
been coming here for years. "
Gordon Spurgeon, a vegetable grower
from Shellsburg, Iowa, didn't seem too
perturbed by all of the early morning
activity. Sitting beside an incredibly
large assortment of homegrown
vegetables, Spurgeon also didn't seem
too concerned about being approached
by a man with a camera and a notepad.
He said he didn't think he knew
anything of interest to people, but
Shari Morrison, a co-worker and
probably the closest person to a
business partner Spurgeon has,
assured him he did. She also assured
Spurgeon he could be in the picture
with her and Robert Waddell, an
employee, and it would turn out OK.
Conversations like this reaffirm to
me the team spirit it takes to be at a
farmers' market.
An important part of the story is
that Gordon Spurgeon Farms was
recognized in 2020 as a Century Farm
by the State of Iowa's Department of
Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Gordon Spurgeon, right, a vegetable grower from Shellsburg, Iowa, shown
with Robert Waddell, an employee, and Shari Morrison, a co-worker, at a
downtown farmers' market in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Photo: Dean Peterson
Century Farms are farms recognized for
being in consecutive ownership within
the same family for 100 years or more.
Spurgeon, at age 83, has been
around for a lot of those 100 years and
has been selling vegetables at farmers'
markets for about 20 of them. The
vegetables started as an interest in
gardening that became a business.
" We don't have a greenhouse, "
Spurgeon said. " We buy a lot of
transplants. "
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40 | VegetableGrowersNews.com

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December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2021

December 2021 - 1
December 2021 - 2
December 2021 - 3
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https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/seedguide-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/buyersguide-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/december-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/november-2020
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https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/september-2020
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https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/january-2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/greatamericanmediaservices/VGN/december-2019
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