West County Farmers Market Scene Hopes To Be In Full Bloom This Weekend

George and Rene Sackett have big hopes for changing the food culture in West St. Louis County, and this weekend marks the couple's first chance to see a new partnership start to grow.

The pair run SOL Events and Catering, which manages the Ellisville Community Farmers Market and for the first time, the Wildwood Farmers Market.

Ellisville's first regular Thursday night event at Bluebird Park is this week after the threat of raindrops put a damper on a "Taste of the Market" kickoff last Friday. Wildwood's season kicks off Saturday morning in Wildwood Town Center on Fountain & Plaza Drive.

"We are receving a lot of interest from people who want to do both markets. From their perspsective its easier," George Sackett said, citing less paperwork as one example. There is also a hope of a joint marketing campaign through both cities.

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New in Ellisville this year will be more use of food trucks, and classes to teach canning and healthy eating, along with cooking demonstrations.

George Sackett told Patch in a previous interview that the goal is to eventually make the Wildwood operation a “producer-only” farmer’s market. This would mean the vendors would be people selling something they themselves have grown or made.

This season's weather hasn't just been challenging for growing, but also for planting. The Sacketts said the early season should bring lettuce, spinach, broccoli, giving way to strawberries and blackberries. The late summer should see peaches and then apples in the fall.

The couple believes there is room for a West St. Louis County farmers market culture to survive financially, without taking too much of a bite out of local grocers.

"We want these markets to be more than something cool, more than something trendy," Rene Sackett said. "We want people in the neighborhoods to really come and purchase, we need their purchasing power," she said.