Summer tomatoes, new vendors and Fresh Fest all happening at Saturday’s Red Stick Farmers Market

It’s here… that magical time of year when the hunt for homegrown tomatoes, sweet corn, fresh watermelon and other much-missed local produce begins. This Saturday’s Red Stick Farmers Market kicks off its summer season with the start of Fresh Fest, an annual multi-week celebration of locally grown crops.

Moreover, fans of the 28-year-old market may also notice a few new vendors as they shop. Three farmers joined the market this spring, helping to shore up numbers following the retirement of a handful of longtime participants.

“It’s kind of a natural transition,” BREADA Executive Director Darlene Rowland says. “Some of the farmers who were with us since day one have retired, so we’re excited about bringing in these young farmers.”

The market was established in November 1996 and is one of oldest modern local foods markets in Louisiana—second only to the Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans, founded in 1995.

Sunset produce vendors John and Betty Chenier and Batchelor sunflower farmer Bud Benton retired from the market earlier this year. In 2024, strawberry farmer William Fletcher and Buddy Miller, known for fresh peaches and pecans, both also retired.

More recently, farmer Eric Morrow, who normally brings large quantities of produce to the market, scaled back. He will be bringing blueberries this weekend, however, Rowland says.

New recruits include Carona Farms from Independence and Double Portion Farms from Greenwell Springs. Pride-based Luckett Farms, a former Red Stick Farmers Market participant, recently returned to the market after an eight-year hiatus. And at the seasonal Tuesday market, open until July, new coffee vendor Nutkin Coffee Co. sells nitrogen-infused specialty coffee drinks.

Rowland says BREADA keeps an ear out for new farmers through its statewide networks, and that current vendor Frank Fekete Farm helped onboard both Carona and Double Portion. All farms that participate in the market have been inspected by BREADA to ensure they’re growing what they’re selling, Rowland says. The resale of crops grown elsewhere isn’t allowed.

It’s challenging to find farmers willing to commit to the year-round market, Rowland says. The population of specialty crop farmers has declined around the country due in part to the high cost of land.

“We’re always looking, because there are just so few farmers out there,” Rowland says. “So we were really excited to bring in these young, energetic farmers.”

Strawberry and produce farmer Matthew Carona is a fourth-generation grower whose ancestors were part of the wave of Italians who migrated to New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century, later moving to the community of Independence. The family has grown wholesale strawberries for decades but saw the farmers market as a chance to diversify. Carona and his wife, Kayla, began selling strawberries this spring and are now bringing Creole tomatoes, bicolored sweet corn, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant and bell peppers. Okra will be available soon, along with fresh red beans, he says.

“We’re just really glad to be able to bring people more fresh produce,” Carona says.

Double Portion Farms is run by Bobby Taylor, a 2021 graduate of the LSU AgCenter who says he’s been fascinated by vegetable-growing and animal husbandry since childhood. Taylor manages his family’s 18.5-acre Greenwell Springs farm, also home to recreational pigs, cows and chickens. He spent two years testing and preparing the soil to be able to grow a variety of specialty crops, he says.

This week, Taylor says he expects to bring beets, turnips, Swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, and a variety of both squash and peppers.

Corn and watermelons are coming soon, he adds.

“We try to be very diverse,” Taylor says.

BREADA’s annual Fresh Fest kicks off this Saturday. The “Cool as a Cucumber”-themed day features activities and programs around summer cukes. Shoppers can also browse the adjacent Baton Rouge Arts Market, held on the first Saturday of every month.

Fresh Fest runs until July 26, with a different theme each Saturday.