Every Saturday, farmers, vendors and the general public gather in downtown Baton Rouge to commerce at the Red Stick Farmer’s Market.
University alumnus Chris Campany started the market in 1996 because local farmers needed a place to sell their goods. Today, the market offers fruits and vegetables, meats, dairy products and baked goods, as well as ready-to-eat meals and more.
“I finished school at the University in 1960, and I’ve been farming ever since,” said farmer Buddy Miller. “I’ve been at this market since it opened in ’96.”
“This stuff was picked yesterday,” Miller said, pointing at a basket of pears. “It’s all fresh, and it’s highly nutritious.”
All of the products at the market come from Louisiana, except for a few from farms in southern Mississippi.
Many of the vendors are associated with the University, such as Militello’s Gourmet Specialties, which uses the University’s Food Incubator kitchen to produce its oils and syrups.
The market is a place for students and the Baton Rouge public to pick up fresh produce and specialty products, but it’s also often the farmers’ primary source of income.
“The economic impact the market has on the local farming community is tremendous,” Miller said. “You can be sure at least 85 percent of every purchase here stays local.”
Marketgoers can also rest assured they know exactly what’s in the food they consume.
“The primary conditions of vending at the Red Stick Market are that you have to grow your own products, and what you sell can’t contain any genetically modified organisms,” said baker Sandy Saye. “This is a 100 percent producer-only market.”
In the fall, the Saturday market is full of purple and gold clad fans preparing for that night’s football game.
“We make this focaccia-style bread that we call ‘LSU bread,’” Saye said. “People tell us they take this stuff to tailgate every Saturday. Our family has been selling bread here since the market got started 18 years ago. My husband’s father was a French chef. He taught us these recipes.”
Family business and passed-down recipes are common at the Red Stick Farmer’s Market.
“I learned my old-fashioned tea cake recipe from my great aunt,” said vendor Adrian Dillard. A tea cake is made with tea leaves, and it isn’t as sweet as a cookie.
Opelousas farmers John and Betty Chenevier rely on their produce and honey sales to sustain their large family’s way of life.
“Me, I come from a family of 22 kids,” John Chenevier said. “Now, me and my wife don’t have quite that many, but everything in our farm is a family ordeal. We don’t have any outside help.”
Joining the Red Stick Farmer’s Market community has also saved family businesses, such as Cutrer’s Meat Market.
“My father Gaylon founded Cutrer’s in 1958,” Raymond Cutrer said. “We were selling everything out of our little building in Kentwood, [Louisiana]. Our business was close to closing before we started here.”
Shopping at grocery stores can sometimes be less expensive than shopping at a farmer’s market, but at the Red Stick Farmer’s Market, that’s not always true.
“It varies from item to item, but on the whole, prices here are actually comparable to grocery store prices,” said Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance representative Darlene Rowland. “Here, you get a whole basket of freshly picked bell peppers for $3. That’s less than what you pay at Wal-Mart.”
BREADA organizes the downtown Saturday farmer’s market, as well as the farmer’s market every Thursday at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and mobile markets, which are trucks that set up mini-markets around Baton Rouge, especially in areas classified as “food deserts.”
“Food deserts” are areas that don’t have access to any type of fresh food. According to a 2013 East Baton Rouge Parish Food Access Policy Commission presentation, about 100,000 East Baton Rouge residents live in “food deserts.”
The importance of farmer’s markets is serious, but the people at these markets are anything but solemn.
“It’s a really fun job,” said 15-year-old City Gelato helper Claire Samana. “I get to meet all kinds of friendly people.”
The Red Stick Farmer’s Market takes place every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the corner of 5th and Main streets downtown and from 8 a.m. to noon on Thursdays at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
You can reach Tyler Fontenot on Twitter @TylerFontenot83.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Raegan Labat

Red Stick Farmer's Market comes to Main Street every Saturday of the month. Vendors are local and sell fresh products.