A Fabulous Opening Day for Shreveport’s Summer Farmers’ Market

I'll admit, it had been a while since I was able to make it out to the Shreveport Farmers' Market...but I'm glad I did this past weekend!  Saturday's opening day was "jam"-packed with people ready to buy lots of locally-grown and hand-made goods.  When Market Manager Noma Fowler-Sandlin told me it was going to be HUGE...and she was absolutely right!

There were boths upon booths throughout Festival Plaza featuring fruits and veggies, locally-made honey, salsas, jams and jellies, fresh meats and eggs, and even arts and crafts.  I brought my three-year-old with me, and my sister met us there.  We racked up on the goods!  I made it out with blackberries, strawberries, blueberries and peaches; two huge sirloin steaks (which I made for dinner last night, and they were awesome!); a dozen eggs (with double-yolks...first time I'd ever seen such a thing); green beans, corn on the cob, potatoes and broccoli; and a few small bottles of honey. 

We even had coffee and freshly-made beignets and muffins for breakfast. But that wasn't all that was available.  There was one booth that was making breakfast tacos and omelets. YUM!  If that wasn't enough, there were live musicians there to entertain everyone while they shopped and snacked.  Such a perfect day for shopping early, too...brisk temperatures and some cloud cover made things so comfortable.

I did learn something while I was there...I need to bring a cart of some type to haul my purchases back to the car.  Because the market was so packed, parking was a major issue.  That was a long walk with all those heavy bags on my arms...but very good exercise.  I will surely be back on future Saturdays, and perhaps for a Tuesday market or two (those run from 3-6 p.m. beginning tomorrow.)  There's still so much I need to buy!  And I feel good knowing I'm purchasing my goods from LOCAL farmers and ranchers.