BEATRICE - It's the time of year all who enjoy fresh food look forward to...farmers market season.


The Main Street Farmers Market in Beatrice held their fourth market of their five-month season, Thursday. Executive Director Michael Sothan says the market so far has had to fight off a little rain on the first few Thursdays, when the event takes place from 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.


"I've been the farmers market manager for ten years. Several of these vendors have been with us, well past that time. We've had vendors that have been here at least fifteen years serving the Beatrice community...several others that have been here at least a half-dozen years...several new vendors, as well. We have a lot of variety, from produce to USDA beef...to jams and jellies, lots of baked goods...different plants, we've got honey. We also have jewelry and a variety of other things...coffee.."


The market is held in the parking lot of the historic Centenary United Methodist Church….just recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Sothan says Thursday was the first day for green beans and snap peas. Other produce is about to arrive.


"Pretty soon we're going to have potatoes...we'll start having full onions...probably a couple of weeks away from the start of tomatoes. We'll start seeing some cherry tomatoes pretty darn soon...and then getting into full-size tomatoes. Not too long after that, we'll start seeing sweet corn and then into melon season. Right now, we've got a lot of leafy greens, asparagus, rhubarb and radishes, beets and turnips. Some of those things will start to give way to some of those summer favorites, pretty soon."


The Main Street Beatrice Farmers Market will be one of the Homestead Days events in Beatrice along with many others coming up during the final full week of June.


"The chamber's got a whole host of other events and then our Ribfest will be on Saturday, June 24th. We're looking forward to it. Hopefully the weather holds out for that event...lots of good barbecue and lots of good music. Hopefully a nice place to enjoy a beverage, that evening."


The farmers market will be held each Thursday….late afternoon….through the middle of October.