Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407170018
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At 81, Catron still gets around well - much better than most people his age. With his beard and cane, he looks almost like an Old Testament prophet.
Catron doesn't hear much bluegrass music at home in Florida, so he tries to attend bluegrass shows whenever he comes to visit relatives in Salem.
He stood for more than an hour Saturday, listening to music by Plum Sideways and other bluegrass bands at the Salem Farmers' Festival.
Some spectators brought along lawn chairs so they could sit while listening to the bands.
As Catron and other bluegrass lovers reveled in the music, hundreds of people shopped for vegetables, fruits and baked goods at the Salem Farmers' Market at Main and Broad streets.
There was a huge crowd for the third annual festival Saturday.
"It looks like it is three times as big as last year," said Teri Atkins, special events coordinator for Salem.
The festival is a mixture of music, vegetables, fruits, baked goods, lemonade, hot dogs and soft drinks.
You could buy produce of almost every kind: corn, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, beets, apples and peaches.
For those who wanted sweets and baked goods, there were cakes, cookies, pies, honey and other delights.
And there were flowers, plants and small shrubs for sale.
Business was brisk for the farmers and merchants who came from as far away as Christiansburg and Rocky Mount. The Salem Market has 25 rental spaces, and 23 were occupied Saturday, said R.C. Wimmer, market manager.
More farmers rent stalls for the festival than on a normal day, Wimmer said. The market operates six days a week and is closed Sundays.
Clifford Hawley, who was selling vegetables, said business was good, but it could not make up for his peach crop, which was killed by a freeze in late May.
"I lost 500 bushels of peaches because of the freeze," said Hawley, a 79-year-old farmer who lives near Bent Mountain. Hawley's daughter, Peggy, helps him farm a garden of about two acres.
Hawley sometimes sells produce on the Roanoke Market. But he prefers Salem because he said it has better access, with more convenient parking for customers.
Dewey Montgomery, who is retired, has a garden at his home and grows vegetables because he enjoys it. His garden is abundant, he said, because he uses manure and other products to keep the soil rich.
"It's not how big your garden is, but how productive it is," said Montgomery.
The festivalgoers were varied. There were young couples with small children in their arms, and many older people who come to the market to buy vegetables and fruits.
Tom Robertson, a Salem resident, said he comes to the market three or four times a year. He tries to attend the festival and buy something fresh. Robertson said he's not a gardener, but he does have a few tomato plants in his yard.
And what would a farmers' festival be like without a contest for the ugliest vegetable and heaviest tomato?
Yes, the Salem festival had competitions in several categories for offbeat vegetables and canned jams, jellies and pickles.
To prevent any complaints about favoritism in the judging, Salem City Councilman Alex Brown was the judge.
The heaviest tomato, grown by Harry Hopkins, weighed nearly two pounds. And the ugliest vegetable, grown by Judy Spalding, was a grotesquely shaped tomato.
In keeping with the tradition of old country fairs, the winners were given ribbons instead of money.
"We wanted to keep the atmosphere of a fair with ribbons for the winners," Atkins said.
by CNB