The Story of the Coppell Farmers' Market, Part 2

The Story of the Coppell Farmers’ Market – continued
By Patrick Daly

Hello again. I hope you enjoyed last week’s article. I have two more historical topics to tell you about.

Customer Appreciation Day

Shortly after the start of the third season, Jack Finley suggested that we provide free barbecue sandwiches, hot dogs, and soft drinks as a “thank you” to our customers. Thus began the first of now five Customer Appreciation Days. Here was the plan: Jack had access to a BIG smoker. . . . the kind that’s pulled on a trailer hitch. He was going to partially cook the briskets at his farm near Lipan, come early to the market, then finish them off and start serving around 10:30 a.m. Sounds reasonable, right? “Not so fast,” said the city's environmental health people. They told us that all the cooking activity had to occur on site at the market. That forced Jack to leave home around 9:00 p.m. Friday. He got to the Market around 10:30 that evening and started the fire. He probably put the meat on around midnight or so. I arrived around 4:00 a.m. Saturday to keep Jack company. All the cooking worked out just fine and we served about 200 people. But I think that was the hottest day I can remember. No breeze to speak of and a hot, hot, hot barbecue smoker right next to us. By the time we finished, everyone was overheated and seeking shade. We decided then and there to go with Plan B for the next Customer Appreciation Day, and we didn't even have a Plan B -- we just knew that Plan A was too much. This year, Hard 8 Barbecue came and did a wonderful job helping us out. If you go there to eat, thank David Blair, the manager, for helping us.

Life Milestones

As in most endeavors that are in their seventh year, things change, especially the people. We lost one of our produce vendors. Do you remember Floyd Worlow? He passed away around Christmas time in 2005. He was at the Market for the 2004 and 2005 seasons. He was born, raised, and lived in Springtown, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Fort Worth. He was quite the athlete.

I found out after he’d died that he won the state shot put championship as a sophomore and got a football scholarship to New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Floyd would never use any kind of shade nor did he ever wear a hat or cap. He was tough and had a wry sense of humor. One time a customer approached his table and made a comment about his greens having holes in them where they’d been chewed on by bugs. Floyd’s response was: “that just makes them organic”.

One of the really enjoyable parts of being at the market over the years has been seeing the children of the vendors. Gene Holmes of Oak Ridge Valley Farms has had his children helping him since he first starting coming to the Market. The oldest, Annaliese, was about 18 when the Market started. She is now married and has three little ones. Her husband is the oldest child of Robert and Nancy Hutchins of Rehoboth Ranch. Gene’s second daughter, Christina, has also been coming to the Market for years. She blossomed into a beautiful young woman and got married just last month. Both Annaliese and Christina and their husbands live in the Greenville area. Gene’s oldest son, Joed, has also been coming to the market for a long time. He recently had no comment about being the next of Gene's children to get married. Typical bachelor!! Gene’s youngest two boys, James, age six, and Timothy, age three, were at the Market this past Saturday.

Stacy and Jerry Finley (Jerry is Jack Finley’s nephew) are in their sixth season at the Market. They have two daughters, Caitlyn and Natalee. Caitlyn helps her mom out selling produce a few times each year, and Natalie, who was an infant when Stacy first came to the Market, is now a 6-year-old youngster. She has come to the Market at least once this year.

Robert Hutchins of Rehoboth Ranch is in his fifth season. He and several of his children have handled the sales over the years. But they are no longer kids. Their names are Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Anna, Stephen, and Samuel . . . and I probably missed some.

Jack Finley’s son, Kevin, has been coming for seven years, also. He's grown up now and actually handles another market location in Fort Worth.

Through the years we have had the pleasure of meeting and working with other vendors’ children and grandchildren as well and it’s always a pleasure.

I hope that this look back has given you some insight into the people that make up our Market.

Lastly, we have a new produce vendor. His name is Mike Powell and he is from Forney, about 40 miles east of the Market. He sells tomatoes and peaches now and will be selling other vegetables and fruits later.

Also, we have Texas olive oil for sale at the Market by Biscuit Head Baking. Their stall is by the big tent next to Bethel Road. They offer extra virgin olive oil and garlic flavored olive oil. The olive oil is produced by Texas Olive Ranch near Carrizo Springs, Texas, about 400 miles south and west of Coppell.

Market History

Some History of the Coppell Farmers Market
By Patrick Daly

Wow! It’s hard to believe, but the Coppell Farmers’ Market is now in its seventh season. Time flies when you’re having fun! I thought a little of the history of the market would be of interest to you.

The Committee

In 2001/2002, the City of Coppell commissioned a consulting firm to provide recommendations for enhancing the old Coppell area, the current site of the farmers’ market. With the help of much citizen input, the firm created a document named the “Old Coppell Master Plan.” In addition to street improvements and other items, the plan called for the creation and operation of a farmers’ market in old Coppell to draw people to the area and make old Coppell better known. In late 2002, the City asked for volunteers to form a group that would create and manage the desired market. I have been part of that group almost from the very first meeting. We started with about 25 to 30 people meeting each month. Naturally, in such a group there were varied thoughts on what the market should be. Some wanted an all-organic market, but others didn’t want that limitation; some wanted non-agricultural sales; and still others just wanted something to bring people to Old Coppell. As the spring of 2003 approached, we met more often, and as the nature and reality of the market took shape, some people stopped participating. Over the course of that first season, the group dwindled down to about six to ten people. It continued on for the second and third seasons with about that same number of volunteers. But we found a very strong ally in Jim Witt, the city manager at that time. Through his efforts, the City brought more resources to bear and made the market easier to manage. The City provided not only the land for the market, but also a city phone number for customers and prospective vendors to call, money to hire a market manager, electrical outlets, paving, and other essential things. We owe a great debt to Jim and his efforts. After the third season, the leadership of the group changed and more volunteers joined. Now we have about 15 to 18 people and the workload is easier. The current group leader is in her final year, and we are looking for someone to take her place. If you are interested, call 972-304-7043 and leave a message.

Opening Day, 2003

Opening day was scheduled for the first Saturday in June of 2003, and it was coupled with a festival called “Old Town Days,” sponsored by The Old Town Association. We had two very big concerns: Would any customers show up? And would we have any vendors come to sell their products? To address the first issue, we had signs created for placement at street corners, published announcements in local papers, and printed handbills for distribution in various public places, e.g., the aquatic center, the library, several stores, etc. The harder part was to find vendors. I think we only had about five vendors and only two of them sold produce. So, to have more offerings at the market, our fearless group decided to take matters into our own hands. One member got peas from Sides Pea Farm near Canton, another decided to sell honey, a third bought breads from an artisan bakery in Grapevine, and yours truly first got to meet Jack Finley. We had made contact with Jack, but he was scheduled to be at another market in Fort Worth. So, we struck a deal with him. I drove to Fort Worth, got a fair amount of produce from him and sold it the next morning. Jack himself has been coming to our market ever since then. As I recall, all the vendors had sold out by about 9:30 or 10:00 that morning. And there were still plenty of customers! I think that as a market we suffered some from that first day because we sold out so fast. But I believe we’ve now overcome that . . . at least I hope so.

I will continue next week with other topics.