Farmer's Market

I'm not sure why we do this, but every summer (and by "every" I mean the past 3 since we've lived here in the desert) we decide to give the Farmer's Market "just one more chance." I always think that maybe, just maybe, this year it will be different. When I think about going to Farmer's Markets, I think about, you know, FARMERS. Produce stands. Fresh fruit and vegetables for sale. This town thinks of the local Farmer's Market as a chance to get drunk in public and run around Main Street. The first time we went, I actually walked past a pile of puke right there in the middle of the street. It reminded me of the first time I went to Berkeley, driving down University Avenue and there was a homeless man throwing up in the gutter. At our Farmer's Market, they actually encourage people to go buy beer at the bars downtown and then bring them outside to the Market. It reeks of alcohol. There's always a band playing and a couple of drunk idiots trying to get their groove on.

I suppose the only good part of the Farmer's Market is the fire truck that sprays water for all the kids to get wet. Why they do this, I don't know. We had a canal break within the past couple of weeks and the local farmers with corn crops have not been able to water their crops, but the fire dept dumps thousands and thousands of gallons of water down Main Street. Maybe the city should give this water to the farmers.

Even more disturbing than the drunks at the Farmers Market was the children that were laying in the gutter putting their mouths in the dirty water. And the woman who was actually taking her small baby swimming in said water.

I suppose the smile on Austin's face while standing under the fire truck makes one trip to the Farmer's Market a year well worth it. Maybe next year, there will be more produce stands.



And we had some time to kill earlier this week, so we went to the outdoor pool. We even got in free because they were closing in 45 minutes. With a 4 year old, who needs more than 45 minutes?