Variety Is the Spice of Thursday

This time of year, Teresa Wilson looks forward to Thursdays.

“I know that I’m not going to cook,” she says as she goes from booth to booth, sizing up what’s available.

She’s a regular at the . From 4 to 7 p.m. each Thursday from the beginning of June through the end of September, the parking lot across Devonwood Drive from Westminster Presbyterian Church becomes the focal point for prepared food, spices, produce and perennials, among other items.

“I spread the word,” says Wilson, a township resident likes to stop at the market on the way home. “I tell other people, because if it’s something I like, I know they’re going to like it, too.”

The market, in its third year, is drawing good crowds despite hotter-than-average temperatures. Those who attend are encouraged to take food home to enjoy instead of eating on the premises, according to Lions Club member Burt Bowman.

 “We try to have some variety,” he says. “It is a farmers’ market, so we have a lot of produce, but we try to have some other interesting vendors as well.”

Among the offerings are freshly baked bread, hamburgers and gyros, shaved ice and kettle corn, cheese and wine, pierogies and pasta, and everyone’s confectionery favorite, fudge.

Bowman says “halfway” vendors eventually will augment the market, offering late-summer produce and the like.

In the meantime, the Lions are eager to welcome visitors.

“We figure it’s a place where the community can come together,” Bowman says. “We don’t have a downtown. Come up here on Thursday afternoon and meet their neighbors and say hello to old friends and buy some real quality food items.”

That’s what the Lions Club volunteers tend to do.

“We end up spending all the cash in our pockets at the end of the day.”