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This year, Wyoming watermelon farmers called Mary Carpenter to see if they could be part of the Bountiful Farmers Market, which began its 2009 season last Thursday.
When she organized the weekly event nine years ago, Carpenter remembers, she had to make all the phone calls to lure in vegetable and fruit growers.
"It has grown tremendously," she said, adding her "labor of love" developed a few years after a different market in Bountiful ended. Her farmers market "started off slow. People were reluctant. They didn't come down, didn't know what we'd have."
Now, Carpenter estimates 1,500 to 2,000 people usually flock a block east of Main Street each Thursday in the summer to buy fresh peaches, listen to music or just people-watch.
At the start of the summer, the market might tend more toward arts and crafts until fruits and vegetables start coming into season. "It's literally off the fields and in people's hands," said Aric Jensen, Bountiful planning and economic development director.
The farmers market has been an important part of Bountiful's plan to revitalize a downtown district that is full of local businesses flanking Main Street. In the 1950s, Main Street in Bountiful was the place to be, Jensen said. Then, shopping malls and commercial centers along Interstate 15 drew people away.
"The last 20, 30 years, downtown has really been languishing," he said. "So, this is part of our effort to bring people downtown."
And it has been working, Jensen said.
"The farmers market has just picked up in the last couple of years."
From 4 to 7 p.m. each Thursday until October, the corner of 100 South and 100 East is filled with more than 30 craft stands, about a dozen food vendors and more than 10 farmers trucking in their harvest.
