Farmers' Markets of the Heartland

IOWA

Iowa I enter Iowa on a drenched day by crossing the mighty Mississippi River. Driving east on I-80, which bisects the state, I find farmers’ markets, big and small, that tell the story of this place. Even in the blustery drear, I am struck by the vibrant russet colors of the Iowa autumn. As I make my way across the wide state, thinking about how our country feeds itself, I came across a little-remembered story on my visit to West Branch, the birthplace of Herbert Hoover and site of his presidential library. It turns out that before he was president, he had a successful international engineering career with a mining company. He found himself in London in 1914 when World War I broke out. Having established for himself a reputation for logistics, and at the request of the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, Hoover deployed five hundred volunteers to coordinate food and travel for more than 120,000 Americans stranded in Europe. He later orchestrated a relief effort for Belgium, whose citizens were trapped in fighting between England and Germany. The museum is filled with flour sacks that Belgians embroidered with messages of thanks to Mr. Hoover. 164 iowa After my flag-waving respite I hopped back in the car, only to be detoured again in Grinnell, home to a great college and one of the few remaining banks designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan. Some of the students shopping at the farmers’ market told me how they plan an all-local Thanksgiving with heritage turkeys raised by a music instructor. Next I circled around Des Moines to check out Winterset, which has a market on the square. Movie buffs will remember it as the setting for the film The Bridges of Madison County, starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. The wow-factor market is in Des Moines, the state capitol and the site of what may be one of the largest farmers’ markets in the country. It is one of those markets with so many vendors that it is easy to feel overwhelmed, yet even the near-freezing temperature did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of shoppers. Downtown Des Moines Farmers’ Market Founded 1976 200 vendors Saturdays, May through October, Court Avenue between Fifth Avenue and First Street Wednesdays, late August through early October, Thirteenth Street between Grand Avenue and Locust Street Third weekends (Fridays and Saturdays) in November and December, 400 Locust Street (Capitol Square/Nollen Plaza), Des Moines The Downtown Des Moines Farmers’ Market dates to 1976, when it had fewer than a dozen vendors and maybe two hundred shoppers. Today it runs nine city blocks down Court Avenue under the watch of the Polk County Courthouse, with hundreds of vendors on either side of the wide street and branching off onto side streets like legs on a millipede. More than eighteen thousand shoppers show up on warm Saturdays; attendance ballooned to thirty thousand on opening day in 2009. The market is operated by the Downtown Community Alliance, a nonprofit organization designed to promote a vibrant downtown. Even on a chilly day, you can see that the effort is clearly working. iowa   165 In a state known for its focus on corn and hogs, the market here is remarkable in its diversity: berries, cheese from goats and cows, cultivated mushrooms, honey, even rye whiskey barbecue sauce. And the Des Moines Market has what few others have: a parking ramp. In an era where car is king, easy parking makes a difference in the success of a market. The market also has two other essential ingredients for success: pastries and locally roasted coffee. I arrive at dawn, desperate for fuel. At the top of the market, near the courthouse, I meet Austrian immigrant Mike Leo, a baker doing a brisk business selling cookies. If the line is any indication, his Strudl Haus Bakery is the way he is living the American dream of coming to a new country and starting a business . Close by is Iowa Coffee Company, where Tom Sibbernsen sells hot coffee and is particularly popular on chilly days. I meet up with market director Kelly Foss, who is clearly a market booster, sprinkling in news and data while introducing me to vendors by name. She gives me a guided tour and chats about the broad range of vendors, about programs to help farmers, and about organizations that help feed the...