
DATE: Sunday, July 20, 1997                 TAG: 9707200105

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONI GUAGENTI, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   87 lines

A DAY OF TRIUMPH AND BOUNTY FIRE-RAVAGED FARMER'S MARKET REOPENS IN VIRGINIA BEACH

Joe Suraci came to Saturday's grand reopening of the Farmer's Market not as a merchant, as he'd done for nearly 20 years, but as a patron.

The 67-year-old Suraci decided to hang up his meat shears after a fire destroyed two-thirds of the market last August.

Suraci, who ran Joe's Old-Fashioned Meat Market before the blaze, hugged old friends, made new ones and bought produce from people with familiar faces as he mingled among the throngs of people who showed up for the market's rebirth.

``I love this place; this is like a reincarnation,'' Suraci said. ``I'm glad to see it bounce back; I hope it does well.''

The reopening wasn't just about picking the perfect produce.

It symbolized a community rising from the ashes and preserving the integrity of agriculture - an industry Virginia Beach was built upon.

About $700,000 in insurance proceeds helped rebuild the market, which looks healthier than it did before the fire, which was of suspicious origin.

Several hundred people participated in the festivities. Children rode ponies, petted farm animals and milked a fake cow. Folkstapped their toes to the music of square dancers and an all-youth country band.

They line-danced, rode in a mule-driven hay wagon and tried to avoid the oppressive heat, which skyrocketed into the 90s.

Oh. Let's not forget the free watermelon. The juice helped cool things.

``Phtt,'' one seed. ``Phtt,'' another. ``Phtt.'' One more seed tumbled out of Jessica Yu's mouth.

The 5-year-old Virginia Beach resident stood on her brother's stroller, leaning against a brand new wooden fence as her mother, Jennifer Yu, yanked out a napkin to wipe the juice from her daughter's chin and neck.

Earlier in the day, Mary Bergey cranked out some butter using a churn owned by her father-in-law when he started the Chesapeake dairy in 1933.

She kneaded the buttering cream, poured ice water onto it, drained it, and then used a bell-shaped wooden mold to create the perfect, creamy-colored, half-pound chunks of butter.

``Who wants a taste?'' asked Bergey, as she arranged some crackers and knives for the crowd.

Joyce Barfield of Virginia Beach handed her husband, Gene Barfield, a buttered cracker.

How's it taste?

``Like butter's supposed to,'' he retorted.

``We've been coming here for years,'' he said. ``It's good to see it open again.''

The Barfields' best friends agreed.

``I've got enough peaches to make a pie,'' said Elda Samet.

And don't forget the corn, cantaloupe and other produce they bought, reminded her husband, Sam Samet. Both hail from Norfolk.

``We used to come here before the fire,'' Sam Samet said. ``We're glad to see it reopened.''

Back at the butter churn, Bergey greeted folks she hadn't seen in a while. She and her husband, James Bergey, were missionaries for two years in Albania, and recently returned from their work abroad.

They were having a homecoming of their own. Their son now runs the Bergey's Dairy Farm stall, selling homemade ice cream and other dairy products.

Many of the people who came to the Farmer's Market, at Dam Neck and Princess Anne roads, hope that people keep coming back.

``It's something like the old market out here today,'' said Pat Lewis, as she and her mother, Elsie Creekmore, both up to their elbows in kidney-shaped butter beans, snapped vegetables from their protective pods. The family runs Creekmore's Place, which was not destroyed by the fire.

``If it could be like this all the time . . . A lot of people thought it was closed because of the fire,'' Lewis said. ``Now they know it's not; we just hope they keeping coming out.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

PHILIP HOLMAN

Elsie Creekmore watches customers pull into the parking lot as she

shells butter beans early Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market.

PHILIP HOLMAN photos

A model cow was set up for ``milking'' at an agricultural display

designed for children. Nearby there were real farm animals, and

ponies for riding.

Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf joins in the applause after

the ceremonial splitting of a watermelon marking the official

reopening of the Farmer's Market Saturday at noon; the market was

nearly destroyed by fire last August. Caitlin Sheehan, 4, bottom,

has eyes for the melon only.