Dozens of people -- by some estimates a couple hundred -- parked their cars Saturday at Lifeline Baptist Church in the center of southwest Little Rock and walked away from the building, toward the fresh fruits and vegetables near the corner of Chicot and Baseline roads.
With only two vendors out of the typical half-dozen that set up there later in the summer, the Southwest Little Rock Farmers Market is small. But it's not quiet.
On a typical Saturday, Danny Carpenter, 52, of Carpenter's Produce gets an estimated 500 customers. Some of them drive in after spotting the produce from the road, and some of them plan to come each week now that a farmers market has moved into the area, miles away from the next closest markets farther north in the city.
"It's a healthier choice," said Katina White, 36, who took her 4-year-old daughter, Jai, to the market Saturday.
Health concerns are why the market got started three years ago. Sawyer's Food Market at 3409 Baseline Road closed, so the Southwest Little Rock Hometown Health Improvement Coalition decided it was time to start a farmers market.
"When they closed, we were really limited on quality produce, for sure," said Joan Brush, who works for the state as the hometown health improvement administrator for Pulaski County south of the Arkansas River.
The farmers market is part of the coalition's goal of encouraging healthy eating and reducing obesity among area residents. In the past, the coalition has organized a community garden and gardens in schools, Brush said.
"We're trying to educate people that you still can cook healthy and shop on a limited budget," she said.
At times, the coalition has handed out information on how to prepare fresh produce.
Saturday was the first day of the Southwest Little Rock Farmers Market for the season. It is open longer than most markets -- nine hours, from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Kenneth Jones, 66, sold strawberries from Battles Cadron Crest Orchard in Guy on Saturday, while Carpenter sold more than 20 kinds of fruits and vegetables that he and his seven brothers and sisters grow on about 1,000 acres in Grady.
Carpenter's Produce has sold at the Southwest Little Rock Farmers Market for about a year and a half and also sells at the River Market Farmers Market, Carpenter said. The family has been in the farmers market business for 46 years, and Carpenter said he loves it, because fresh produce is "what we all need."
It's what White visited the market for -- fresh produce that's cheaper than what she can find in a grocery store.
White, who lives south of the market, frequented the downtown Little Rock farmers' market before the one near the church opened. Now she doesn't have to travel so far to get the food she likes.
The same goes for Jimmy Hornes, 70, who shopped at the market Saturday with his wife. They bought squash, tomatoes and okra.
"To me, the food is fresher," he said.
Hornes works downtown and used to go to the market there, but now he relies on the one in southwest Little Rock.
Now, he said, he can find a lot of what he's looking for closer to home.
Metro on 05/15/2016