Cajun French: le miel (lu mee-el) – honey
The parking area was packed with police directing traffic and volunteers assisting in the parking lot. The crowd was sometimes three deep and tables hard to see. This was our introduction to the Beaumont Farmers Market. In seeking out farmers markets as we RV around the country, Beaumont has an excellent start on a very active local farmers market. We were impressed both with the produce offered and the local support.
The Athletic Complex on College Street is the location for the market and 2013 marks its third year. The market operates from 8-11 and is seasonal from June – November. The market was definitely a community gathering place supporting local farmers. Customers were shopping and visiting and enjoying themselves. Even the heat could not stop the crowd.
The Saturday we visited, tomatoes of every shape and size were displayed. We purchased heirloom varieties of all sizes and colors. In addition we purchased peppers, eggs, honey and homemade lemonade.
We missed not being able to purchase fresh bread. In addition to missing out on bread we ran into two oddities at this market. One was that prices seemed to be fixed, if you bought tomatoes they were $3.00/pound. This observation was corroborated while speaking to a vendor. In our travels, we find 99.9% of all farmers to be totally honest and give more value than you pay for. But on this day one of our purchases for tomatoes, we were charged for 2 pounds when we only received 1 ½ pounds.
Beaumont Farmers Market offered a wide variety of produce and other local products. We enjoyed the market and we look forward to returning on a future RV trip.
