REVIEW: The Farmers Markets of Iowa City and Cedar Rapids

06-18-2008 | Dining

By LaDawn Edwards

I love farmers markets because they combine the best features of a Midwestern small town festival with the traditional gourmet practice of buying directly from the person who raised the food. Not only do you have the chance to inquire about use of pesticides and nitrogen based fertilizers, there's an excellent chance you will bump into an old friend or a coworker from eight years ago.

In order to compare the best of what's available in Johnson and Linn County farmers markets, I set my alarm for Saturday, May 31 and drove down to Iowa City, arriving shortly after its 7:30 opening. The Iowa City market covers the main floor of the parking ramp on East Washington Street and it was hopping! There's a bit of an intelligence test in actually paying for your parking (at the stairwell kiosk, as soon as you arrive) but once you've given the city its paper or plastic money you're home free to wander in a paradise designed to inspire your inner chef.

With the wet, cool spring many vendors were apologetic about their limited offerings, but I found plenty of asparagus, salad greens, rhubarb and chives. And while shoppers are waiting for garden tomatoes and zucchini they can still cart home a plethora of baked goods and plants, as well as specialty items like honey, mushrooms and hot kettle corn. I saw a friend who said that she's been buying eggs and cinnamon bread from Mr. Yoder since she first moved to Iowa City in 1992. She explains with a laugh that her husband refers to this favorite vendor in the straw hat and distinctive Amish beard as her "boyfriend."

In my two hours of shopping and socializing I found several notable vendors. Sugarplum specializes in high-end cupcakes. From the dozen artfully decorated flavors I selected crème brulé, distinctive with its garnish of burnt sugar and packed like a present in a pink to-go box. It seemed like an indulgence at $3, but the superior ingredients shone through in every heavenly crumb. Yum-o!

Jeanne's Soaps held a surprise in the herbal insect repellant called DeetBuster. The owner's niece was tending the booth about 20 feet from the prime mosquito breeding ground of Ralston Creek and she claimed this stuff kept them away. I bought a roll-on bottle and found it works great against gnats as well.

A mushroom farmer caught my attention when she opened a photo album that included images of pink oyster mushrooms that we could look for in a few more weeks. She told another shopper that oyster mushrooms "have a flavor similar to morels. If you fry it in butter it tastes just like a morel."

Now, I've been researching morel recipes and lore for the past two years, and I didn't believe her. So, I spent $6 on a half pound of them, and—by golly—she was right! The shape is totally different, but if you cut them up small you could probably fool a dinner guest into believing that you had that expensive, spring delicacy on your table. I used the oyster mushrooms that Sunday in a chicken crepe with chive blossoms (also purchased at the market), then tried them coated and fried in butter. Delish.

A friend had to show me the frog face cupcakes with bulging marshmallow eyes she'd just bought for a doll's birthday party. She also mentioned that most of the vendors take credit cards, so when the Heritage Point Farm guy told me his special of 10 pounds of 95% lean hormone-free ground for $35, I whipped out my Visa.

And I was terribly proud of myself for remembering to hand him a cloth bag. BYOB (that's bags, of course) is just about a moral imperative in Iowa City—whether it's the cute Chico nylon ones that wad up into a matching pouch and conveniently clip to your belt, heavy canvas that will last forever, Wild Oats soft coolers picked up on a vacation out west or reused Target bags—probably 95 percent of the shoppers rejected the free plastic bags. One vendor told me that it's completely the opposite when she sells in Cedar Rapids—maybe shoppers to the north haven't acquired that green habit yet.

Amid the food and crafts I also found cute kids' clothes and Terry Dahms, candidate for county supervisor with a card table and campaign brochures. He said that even though most people are too busy shopping to stop and talk politics, he feels that his presence at the farmers market says something about his values that Johnson County voters might remember when they vote.

People tell me that the Wednesday night market in Iowa City is a massive picnic, with families buying hot food and gathering on the lawn of the adjacent Chauncey Swan Park, while they listen to the local musicians or watch cooking demonstrations. They sometimes have Saturday entertainment, also, starting in June. It's clear that people are happy to be at the Iowa City farmers market, but I had the sense that they were routinely picking up their produce and eggs.

By contrast, at the opening Cedar Rapids Downtown Market June 7 the crowd was almost manic for the experience. Feed me! (40 hot food and baked goods booths.) Entertain me! (Theatre Cedar Rapids, Science Station, library, balloon animals and live music.) Dazzle me! (Nine wineries and more than 60 artisans and jewelry makers.) The produce, flowers, meat and eggs (only 50 booths) seemed a little lost in the shuffle. Again, the actual selection of produce was limited due to growing conditions, but most people were oblivious. I only heard two shoppers mention vegetables.

Everybody else seemed to have come for the experience. The Downtown District reported a record 10,000 people shopping at nearly 150 booths where they could buy anything from liver dog treats from Dogs Dig 'Em to an antler floor lamp from Antler Ridge Elk Ranch. There were moments when it seemed less hassle to take to the sidewalk (behind the booths) rather than weave through the strolling crowds.

Oh, but there's plenty more. On Mays Island, within sight of Grant Woods stained glass window at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, while I was admiring the designer dog collars I noticed a lady carrying a show-stopping bouquet of white peonies with little blue iris accents. When I asked her who it might be a present for she said, "Me—he bought it for our two-week anniversary," nodding at her thoughtful new hubby. She also volunteered directions to the booth it came from, which led me to Lincolnway Flower Farm. While the cut flowers had mostly disappeared in the first hour, I got a pot of a showy annual called Kiss-Me-Over-the-Garden-Gate. I can't wait to see it flower in July.

I only found a couple of booths (in both markets) that offered unsprayed produce, but hormone-free meat was everywhere. In addition to elk and Black Angus beef, vendors were advertising lamb, goats, pork and heritage turkeys. Now, some of it required special ordering, but if you've looked in stores for specialty meats you'll agree that dropping an e-mail for a rack of lamb you can pick up at the next biweekly market feels like the height of convenience.

Back in April my husband and I spent a Sunday driving to four of the wineries featured on the Eastern Iowa Wine Trail. Surprisingly, I found all of them offering free samples at the market. Another five wineries that I'm less familiar were also represented, so it's possible to stock your cellar with the best wine from Dubuque to Des Moines in the space of four hours. You'll definitely want to flag down a volunteer with a wagon or bring a beefy teen to haul it back to your car.

If you come to the Cedar Rapids Downtown Market expecting to pick up some veggies and head home, you may leave frustrated by the crowds and the layout stretching along Second Avenue from Mays Island to Third Street. If you want to entertain your family on a Saturday morning for a few dollars in apple tarts and kettle corn, this is the place to be!

The Downtown District's is committed to "making Downtown a thriving urban neighborhood for all who come here to work, live and enjoy the culture," and they deserve a big pat on the back for creating one of the biggest markets in the state. Downtown Market is really a blitzkrieg summer festival, but better because there's no admission charge, more selection and more affordable food. It is scheduled almost every other Saturday from June to October. (The June 21 and July 5 farmers' markets have been canceled due to the flooding.)

I know that after the water recedes from this week's historic flood the city will be working overtime to bring the market back downtown. This community event has generated too much enthusiasm to let anything—even Mother Nature—stop its momentum.

Here is a listing of Corridor area farmers' markets:

Iowa City Farmers Market

Saturdays 7:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Wednesdays 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Runs May through October

Lower level of Chauncey Swan Parking Ramp, across from the Civic Center on East Washington Street

Coralville Farmers Market

Mondays and Thursdays 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Runs through first Thursday in October

Coralville Community Aquatic Center parking lot

Sycamore Mall Iowa City Farmers Market

Tuesday 3:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Runs through October 28

Sycamore Mall

North Liberty Farmers Market

Sundays from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Runs through October 26

Located behind the Community Recreation Building (pool), just off Cherry Street

Eighth Avenue Farmers Market, Cedar Rapids

Tuesdays and Thursdays: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Saturdays: 7:30 AM - Noon (except June 7 & 21, July 5, Aug. 2 & 16, Sept. 6, Oct. 4)

Eighth Avenue and Second Street SE city parking lot on the south side of Eighth Avenue, Cedar Rapids

Noelridge Park Farmers Market, Cedar Rapids

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Corner of Collins Road and Council Street NE

Downtown Farmers Market, Cedar Rapids

Saturdays: June 7, June 21, July 5, August 2, August 16, September 6, October 4;

7:30 a.m. - noon

Second Street SE between First and Third Avenues and Second Avenue between First and Third Streets

Marion Farmers Market

Wednesdays 3:00 - 6 p.m. and Saturdays 8:00 - 11:30 a.m. through September 27.

East End Shopping Center on Seventh Avenue between 31st and 35th streets

Anamosa Farmers Market

Wednesdays 3:00 - 6:00 p.m., Saturdays 7 a.m. - noon, through September 29

Public parking lot on Main Street beside Petro and Provisions in Anamosa

Hiawatha Farmers Market

Sundays 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Wednesdays 3:30 - 6:30 p.m., through October

Guthridge Park, 10th Ave., near Wal-Mart in Hiawatha

Mt. Vernon Farmers Market

Thursdays 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., Saturdays 8:30 - 10:30 a.m., through October

Adjacent to Mount Vernon's Visitor's Center on Main Street

Monticello Farmers Market

Wednesdays 3:00 - 6:00 p.m., Saturdays 8 a.m.- noon, through Oct. 31

On First Street in front of the Renaissance Center

Tama/Toledo Farmers Market

Fridays 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., through October

Courthouse Square in Toledo

Washington Farmers Market

Thursdays 5:00 – 7:30 p.m., Sundays 1:30 – 3:30 p.m., through October

Thursdays on Downtown Square, Sundays at 1600 East Washington Street in the Orscheln/Pamida/USDA/FSA parking lot

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