It all started with a craving for sweet juicy raspberries and some free time from work.

Thayne Tagge, once a certified public accountant, worked long hours during the winter tax season. His employer encouraged him to save the time and take a generous vacation in the summer when business was slow.

The respite coincided with his favorite time of year- Bear Lake raspberry season. Tagge, then a bachelor in his early twenties, made the 2--1/2 hour trip to the Northern Utah Lake, to purchase berries to sell at roadside stands in Sugar House and Holladay.

"People went crazy for them," he said. "We would sell out so fast, especially on the weekends." Through the years, the raspberry stands became a summertime ritual for Thayne. It continued after he married Cari and has endured as they have raised four children, now ages 15 to 21. All four children have spent their summers working for the family business, officially called Thayne and Cari Tagge's Famous Fruit.

Today, the family, who lives in Holladay, operates 12 produce stands, 11 in Salt Lake County and one at the farm in Perry.

The fruit business is a joint effort with Thayne operating the fruit orchards in Perry and Cari keeping things operating at the Salt Lake County stands, from hiring employees to making sure the fruit gets from the farm to the stands. Most of the fruit is sold within 48 hours of harvesting.

For local residents, the Tagge fruit stands have become neighborhood gathering centers and have provided summer jobs for hundreds of teenagers.

Heather Harling credits her addiction to fresh raw corn and blueberries to the five years she worked in the Tagge stands.

"It's a lot of hard work," said the Brigham Young University student. "But it's your second family."

Besides the fruit stands, the Tagge family sell their produce at the farmers' markets in Salt Lake City, Park City, Murray and Holladay.

To the market: The farmers' market season official opens this Saturday with the start of the Salt Lake City's market at Pioneer Park, 300 S. 300 West. Other markets from Moab to Park City will be opening in the coming weeks.

This year the downtown market, which runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., includes eight new growers, offering unique produce ranging from Andean grains to ginger gold apples, said Kim Angeli, event manager with the Downtown Alliance which sponsors the Saturday event. The market runs through Oct. 21.

It is still early in the growing season so customers should not expect to find tomatoes, peaches or melons. But, Angeli said, during the first few Saturdays there will be greenhouse produce, early greens, spinach, herbs, bedding plants, onions and garlic.

There also will be 30 prepared-food vendors, including several newcomers such as artisan cheese from Beehive Cheese in Uintah, handmade Austrian spaetzle from Frody Volgger chef-owner of Salt Lake City's Vienna Bistro and made-from-scratch pancakes from Stackers.

Various events are scheduled throughout the summer, including cooking demonstrations, wine making tips and an heirloom tomato festival. A new "Music at the Market" stage has been added this year with live bands playing weekly from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And the arts and crafts market, featuring 70 local crafters, also is returning.

For updates on what is happening each week visit http://www.downtownslc.com.

Growers such as Diane Jones of Cottage Green Farms in Sandy have been working behind the scenes in anticipation of the summer market. Jones started seedlings in February in her greenhouse and searched for unique vegetables and herbs to give her a niche among the 80-plus growers.

She is especially excited about her Caribbean culantro considered by many to be a more potent herb than its more common cousin, cilantro. In Puerto Rico, the green herb it is used in all kinds of soups, stews and bean dishes. It also is used in many Asian dishes.

Jones also has planted four different varieties of potatoes as well as celeriac, kohlrabi and purple carrots, so popular last year, "that I tripled the amount I planted," she said.

Young farmers: For the Tagge family, the farmers' market season will begin later in June when the cherries ripen on their Perry farm, located at 3431 S. Highway 89 and identifiable by its orange-colored fruit stand.

The Tagges purchased the first 24 acres in Perry, with some 3,300 fruit trees in 1997 from long-time fruit farmer Paul Sumida.

They have since purchased another 10 acres on the west side of Highway 89 where they plant raspberries, melons and other row crops and another 34 acres further south where they are planting additional fruit trees. All told, the family has 68 acres, making them one of the largest fruit farmers in the state. They grow five different varieties of cherries, 20 varieties of peaches as well as nectaries, pears, apricots, berries and tomatoes.

At 47 and 44, respectively, Thayne and Cari Tagge are also some of the youngest Utah farmers and seem to have boundless energy and enthusiasm for the business.

"It's hard work," says Thayne, who runs a snowplow business in the winter. "But we are always trying to improve. That's the way to be happy in life."

Initially, Tagge who graduated from the University of Utah with his accounting and CPA degrees didn't know much about farming, but after a few years crunching numbers he knew he didn't belong behind a desk, said Cari.

Fortunately, Sumida spent a year teaching Tagge about pruning, irrigation, spraying and harvesting fruit. It's difficult work, but exactly where Tagge wants to be.

"I always wanted to have my own raspberry patch," he said recently. "I liked the idea of owning land."

And there is no better place than at the base of Willard Canyon to grow fruit.

"The best orchards are always near lakes," Tagge said, as he walked the hillside above his orchard pointing out the expansive view of Willard Bay to the west. Tagge said as the sun sets over the lake it heats the rocks, keeping the overnight temperature on the hillside slightly warmer than the valley and preventing frost from killing the fruit. In nine years, Tagge has lost only one crop of peaches to frost.

Which is a good thing, because come summer plenty of Utahns want Tagge's Famous Fruit.

Contact Kathy Stephenson at kathys@sltrib.com or 801-257-8612. Send comments about this story/review to livingeditor@sltrib.com.