foodperson.com

It was a big day Saturday at the Lawrence (Kansas) Farmers Market (http://www.lawrencefarmersmarket.com/index.php). Of course, every Saturday in season is a big day at the market, barring forbidding thunderstorms and the like.

Still, this one was special because it offered the first (of what is to become annual) Tomato Tasting: The Good, the Big, and the Ugly. Energetic market coordinator Mercedes Puckett-Taylor, in her third year on the job, organized the event.

It offered market customers free tastes in the tasting tent of 39 tomato varieties donated by vendors, and prizes to community members who entered and won the competitions for biggest tomato, ugliest tomato, best bruschetta topping and best fresh salsa.

Alejandro Lule of La Parilla (http://www.laparrillalawrence.com/) judged the salsa contest, provided tortilla chips for post-judging sampling by market customers and donated a $25 gift certificate to his restaurant. Thom Leonard of WheatFields (http://www.wheatfieldsbakery.com/) did his part, too, judging the bruschetta topping category, providing bread for post-judging sampling and a $25 WheatFields certificate.

The market itself gave away “goodie cards” worth $25 to winners of the big and ugly tomato categories.

Although contest entrants were scant (fewer than half a dozen in each category), something that a little more publicity would surely remedy, the tomato tasting opportunity had shoppers lined up to sample the yellow, red, purple, big and little tomatoes during the entire two-hour tasting session.

Puckett-Taylor was gratified by the samplers and said she appreciated working with the local restaurateurs. “We’ll have more entries next year,” she said.

A little background for those unfamiliar with the market: The Lawrence market started in 1976 with a handful of vendors, typically three or four on Saturdays, but it just three years, the number of vendors had grown to 49.

Nowadays, the market has about 75 vendors, Puckett-Taylor said, although only 60 or so are there on any given Saturday, late April through early November.

It’s a producer-only market, meaning the vendors are allowed to sell only items they produce themselves. Vegetable and fruit vendors are by far the most numerous, but they have plenty of company from sellers of flowers, honey, baked goods, beef, bison, elk, emu, eggs, soap and more. Of course, lots of vendors sell in more than one category.

Vendors also sell on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at nearby locations, but Saturday’s definitely the biggest day. Crowds of customers arrive when the market opens at 7 a.m. and somebody’s always still shopping when the market officially closes at 11. There’s no official rule, but people invariably travel counterclockwise around the west parking lot before crossing over to the east lot, circling counterclockwise again and finishing with the few vendors they missed in the west lot.

I love the crossgenerational-crosscultural aspect of the whole thing, from the little kids in strollers to the old folks with walkers. You’ve got your old hippie farmer next to your straw-hat wearing white-haired farmer next to the Church of the Brethren (http://www.brethren.org/) ladies selling baked goods next to the African-American family selling barbecue. Somewhere in the mix are the homeless shelter people selling homemade dog biscuits and assorted other distinctive vendors.

It’s fun, it’s communal, and, this past Saturday especially, it’s a whole lot of tomatoes.