Farmers market starts in Jackson

Parking lot by bowling alley will be site for homegrown items.

The corner of Washington Street and Union Avenue in Jackson was once a hot spot for groceries.

For decades, the site had a grocery store operated by Bernard Schaper, a well-liked and respected Jackson businessman who continued the family food business that started out as small, one-room market on Broadway in Cape Girardeau in the early 1900s.

A few years ago, long after Schaper retired, a grocery chain bought out the Jackson store that Schaper built, leaving the town with no grocery store near the older uptown area. The store was replaced by Jim Maevers' new bowling alley.

This summer, however, fresh produce will find its way back to the old Schaper store grounds. Maevers is bringing a farmers market to the bowling alley parking lot.

A few years ago, a farmers market was established in Jackson at the Buchheit farm and home store. According to Octavia Scharenborg, who grows herbs and lettuce and is involved in a market at Arena Park, the Buchheit parking lot wasn't big enough.

That shouldn't be a problem at the bowling alley, which is the biggest part of Maevers' Parkview Square that includes a discount store and a restaurant. The market will also be near the city park, where baseball games are played nightly. Scharenborg would like to see league bowlers become produce customers too.

"We're going to have five to six vendors," Scharenborg said. "It will be good to get back to where Schaper's was and hopefully bring people back to that part of Jackson."

The farmers market will be open on Thursdays from 2:30 p.m. until the business gets slow, Scharenborg said. She said the market will be open through the end of October.

Vendors will sell baked goods, homemade soap, fresh fruits and vegetables along with Scharenborg's herbs and lettuce.

The Maevers family owns and operates a grocery store in Jackson, the Save-A-Lot store on East Jackson Boulevard. But he doesn't think the farmers market will take too much business away from that store.

"I hope it works and that it's successful," Maevers said. "For them and for the tenants of the shopping center."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635