Musical Duo Bobby and Christine, Tomatoes, & Photo Art Greeting Cards at Saturday’s Riverwalk Market Fair

Fresh Flowers vendor Cindi Yang and her mom.

Northfield’s Riverwalk Market Fair, Saturday, July 26, from 9 am to 1 pm – rain or shine.
Located Downtown on Bridge Square. Summer Produce, Artisan Foods, Art and Fine Craft.

Summer Produce, Artisan Foods, Art and Fine Craft

Farmers have summer produce including fresh-picked salad greens, snow peas, rhubarb, green beans, radishes, broccoli, zucchini, Asian and head cabbage, kohlrabi, cucumber, kale, potatoes, carrots and herbs, along with eggs and flowers. Local, hothouse-grown heirloom tomatoes are now available. Artisan foods include fresh-baked breads and delicious sweet and savory pastries jams, jellies, jams, pickles and pulled pork BBQ.

Photographs, handcrafted leather goods, ceramics, fused glass art, fiber art, greeting cards, hand crafted accessories, and jewelry are among the art and fine crafts for sale. (A full list of Saturday’s vendors appears at right.)

John Besse at Ruf Acres Farm Grows Tomatoes

John Besse and two ripe tomatoes

John Besse’s Ruf Acres farm is all about tomatoes. Because Ruf Acres grows in a commercial sized greenhouse, tomatoes are available now. These are real, local, soil grown tomatoes, grown in raised beds under an industrial-sized greenhouse to allow the plants to start very early. John grows seven varieties, including Sakura Cherry Tomatoes, Heirlooms, Pink Beauties, and Red Pearl Grape. Though greenhouse grown, they have the heady tomato smell and taste of the best locally grown varieties.

John’s 240 tomato plants grow in a commercial sized greenhouse he and his wife Ellen Saul reassembled from a used model they bought last year. It’s been a community affair. The former owner of the greenhouse has helped them assemble it and advised on their growing operation. Another neighbor whose family used to grow using a greenhouse stopped by one day and has become a friend and advisor who cares for their plants when John and Ellen need to be away.

John’s beloved grandfather had a truck garden in Illinois when John was a boy, and he has always dreamed of creating a similar operation. Now 5 years retired and moved to Northfield from Albert Lea, this was the right time to start. Be sure and stop by Riverwalk and the Faribault Farmer’s market where ripe, locally grown, Ruf Acres Farm tomatoes are in season now.

Marybeth Coyle with her photo art.

Photographs and Photo Art Greeting Cards by Marybeth Coyle

Marybeth Coyle roams and plays with her camera to journal Northfield daily life in images. She creates photographic studies of light and how it hits an object. Marybeth’s series of vegetable images in her kitchen are noticeable for the way the light turns the vegetables into sculpture. Some of her images are purposely blurry. Always she is trying to capture an essence of each image she photographs, which she then turns into photo art greeting cards.

Musical Duo Bobby and Christine and Youth Activity by the Northfield YMCA

Musical duo Bobby Griffiths and Christine Bergland.

Bobby Griffiths and Christine Bergland are a duet of two voices and one guitar. Their musical sets feature well-known Americana songs, some instrumental picking originals, lots of harmonies and pleasing arrangements.They play a wide array of ballads and livelier songs from Louis Armstrong to Pete Townshend, from Woody Guthrie to the Beatles. Bobby adores the Grateful Dead, and if Christine had her way the Indigo Girls would be a trio. Bobby and Christine play regularly around Minnesota and Wisconsin and especially enjoy farmers markets and playing for senior communities.

Youth Activity on Saturday will be offered by the Northfield YMCA. The YMCA’s new building will be open in September.