We pull off the side of Route 57, just South of Lakeside Park in Jacksonport, WI. It’s about 10:00am on Tuesday, and the Farmers Market is hoping. We say good morning to people we pass, my wife comments on a cherry pie that a happy looking couple was carrying. As we head into the park we see a good ten to fifteen vendors selling bread, cheese, candles, and all sorts of fruits, vegetables and some unusually big onions.

I am like a kid at a candy store at farmers markets. I get on my toes and take a look around, seeing the different tables I want to visit. My son is all about the handmade candy, sausage sticks and cheese samples. I stop at several stands and get mixed lettuce, beets, tomatoes, and sixteen inch red and yellow onions. At the end of the marketing we see our friend Randy from Big Dog Farms. We buy our honey, garlic and fingerling potatoes from Randy. There is something magical about his potatoes on the grill.

After chatting for about five minutes we take a last walk around the market. My wife chats with the some girls at the bakery table. We learned that we need to get to the market first thing in order to get one of their cherry pies. Apparently the couple we passed on the way out purchased the last one (maybe that is why they looked so happy). Instead we bought a baguette, which looked amazing, and then headed back to the car. I am already thinking about the roasted beet and goat cheese salad we will be having for dinner with fingerling potatoes and corn on the cob.

The Big Band and Swing music coming from the Jacksonport shelter was being performed by some of the summer students from the Birch Creek Music Performance Center. You would never guess that these were teenage students if you didn’t see them. The band was complete saxophone, trumpet, trombone, electric guitar, keyboards and drum. These guys a worth a visit to the farmers market even if you not shopping for local produce and Door County candles, soaps and sundries.

The Jacksonport farmers market is held at Lakeside Park on Route 57 about, 10 miles south of Baileys Harbor. The farmers market is open on Tuesdays between 9am and 1pm, from mid-May through late October. Lakeside Park has access to a small beach on Lake Michigan, there are a couple picnic tables and a playground. We sometime picnic here on the way back from Whitefish Dunes.