Thursday has become the Big Day of the Week for us. The new Leavenworth Farmer’s Market which is now open Thursday afternoons offers–besides all the wonderful fresh fruits, vegetables, breads and crafts–musical entertainment from five until eight. We have not heard many, as the market is but recently opened, but Thursday had a group known to us, and one whose music we enjoy. Chuck Egner, a new local winemaker and co-owner of 37 Cellars winery up on Dempsey Rd., plays Blue Grass regularly with a group of friends, and on this evening they played at Lion’s Club Park. It took me right back to our years in Georgia, and the great music we heard there. They obligingly played a request of mine, Aragon Mill, which I had heard Chuck perform some time ago, and which has haunted me ever since. The group’s version, with the mournful fiddle in the background, gave me shivers.

During the years we lived in Georgia we became fans of Blue Grass and were delighted to learn of the groups in this area. We also enjoy other kinds of local music, so the entertainment feature of the local market caught our interest and we resolved to come each week.

Three weeks ago, along with several local friends, we began our Thursday Picnic at the Park. We take turns bringing various components of the meal, with everyone contributing. Sometimes we buy pizza, fruit, Pretiola’s bread or cookies from  local market vendors to add to the meal, and as we eat and listen to the music, we watch  small children running and rolling on the grass like puppies and lambs. Some of them stop to listen to the music, and sway or whirl or jig up and down to the rhythm.

In the background the market goes on as shoppers sample the homemade cheeses and salsas, admire the flowers which Jiraporn brings each week, and make their choices.  I watch people sampling their purchases as they stroll from one end of the market to the other, and wonder if the bags of freshly picked cherries and the organic roasted peanuts in the shell will make it home.

What new produce will be at the market next Thursday? I can hardly wait for the first tomatoes, and the first Quincy corn. And who will be playing and singing? We need to plan who is bringing what for the picnic, too. Decisions, decisions.

Last week I made a Torta Rustica, which took six hours and about did me in. Last time I made it, for a Gordon Lightfoot concert at Chastain Park in Atlanta in 1982, it didn’t take nearly as long and didn’t leave me exhausted. Hmmm.Must be a connection.

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