A family’s 85-year tradition at the ‘original’ Bellefonte farmers market set to end this season

On a cold morning in late August, I found myself in the dark cab of a flatbed diesel truck next to a man who I had only been dating for a handful of weeks. A mountain of vegetables, including crates of sweet corn, bushels of tomatoes, beans, melons and cabbages were behind us, a thermos of coffee between us. The coffee was for me, who had only been awake for about an hour — not for the farmer beside me who had been awake since 3 a.m.

I had no idea what I was getting into on that dark drive into downtown Bellefonte, but it would be the first of many mornings like that to come.

That was seven years ago and the man behind the wheel is now my husband, Mark Ardry of Ardry Farms. He was wide-eyed and awake despite the early hour and happy to have company since he usually attended the Bellefonte farmers market alone. But this was not the Bellefonte market that I knew of in the Gamble Mill parking lot. We were headed to the Original Bellefonte Farmers Market in front of the courthouse “on the diamond,” as the locals refer to it. As we drove toward our destination, we may as well have been in a time machine as Mark began sharing the history of the market and his part in it.

Mark’s great-grandfather began participating in the Bellefonte market in 1936. The market in front of the courthouse began in 1876 and as far as we know it is technically the oldest farmers market in Centre County. Mark’s grandfather and great-grandfather, Howard Jr. and Howard Sr., began attending that market twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. In those days, customers showed up as early as 4 a.m. in search of the freshest fruits and vegetables available.

Since there were no assigned vendor spots, Mark recalls his grandfather arriving in Bellefonte just before the 1 a.m. bell toll rang to secure the most coveted location directly in front of the courthouse. Before World War II, a dozen ears of sweet corn cost a quarter. Howard Jr. was 15 years old when he began vending and attended almost every week during the growing season until he was 89 years old.

Mark was even younger when he first started attending the market with his “Pap.” At age seven, he was not only assisting customers and making change at the market, he was also helping to harvest much of the produce that graced their rickety little folding table. Mark was 10 years old when the black and white picture of him carrying a crate of sweet corn was taken by a local newspaper. By then he was already a seasoned farmhand. Though many farm children grow up doing chores at an early age, Mark began an entirely new layer of education by participating in the farmers market. He took to it like a fish to water, experimenting with his displays to see if different arrangements sold more, memorizing customers’ names and preferences and building up the reputation of the farm little by little.

By the time Mark was 19, he had graduated high school and completely committed to the farm. The reputation of the farm grew exponentially at market; during the peak in the early 2000s, there were 15 vendors shoulder to shoulder on the tiny diamond. And despite the tough competition, Mark remembers easily selling 250 dozen ears of sweet corn within a couple of hours. Sweet corn which, to this day, is still harvested by hand.

Back then, the market was not “producer only,” which meant that if you went to the auction and purchased produce, you had just as much right to sell that produce as your neighbor who actually did grow it. However, customers had to learn the ropes as much as vendors and those who valued quality over price knew which farms to patronize.

In 2010, the majority of the vendors made a decision that would have a profound effect on the market: They voted to become a “producer-only” market. At this point, there were two or three vendors who did not qualify completely. Even though Ardry Farms is a “producer-only” vendor, Mark urged the membership to let those vendors who did not qualify phase out during a transitional period, but the decision was made to split and move the official market into the Gamble Mill parking lot with the hopes of attracting more customers.

The split created a predicament for Mark. Though he belonged in the producer-only market, he did not support the decision to move the location, since so many of his long-time customers were local people who appreciated the convenience of being able to walk to the courthouse instead of drive to get their weekly produce. The diamond had been the location of the market since its inception and Mark feared that the change would produce more negative effects than positive. Despite being one of the vendors with the most seniority, he chose to stay at the courthouse market, even though he no longer benefited from market membership.

Today, Mark and a man named Gary Horner from Spring Mills are the only vendors left at the courthouse market, though this will be Mark´s final season.

The first morning I attended the market on the diamond, it left a lasting impression on me. Having been so used to the State College and Boalsburg markets, I immediately noticed the cultural differences. An older generation shops in Bellefonte, one who grew up frugally and learned how to preserve. Most of the Bellefonte customers don’t care about appearance as much as flavor and they shop for necessity, not for pleasure. But most notably, most of the customers who attend the market on the diamond all know who Mark is even if he doesn’t know who they are.

For Mark, it will always remain the farmers market that defined both his childhood and adulthood.

This is Mark’s 32nd and final year “on the diamond” in Bellefonte. A pandemic and one of the driest years on record in this area was not enough to stop him from attending the market in 2020. He then managed to push through one more year before deciding it was time to “retire” from Bellefonte. Gary plans to continue attending market and I hope the wonderful regulars will continue to show up and support him. Mark and his two brothers, Wayne and Tom and their father Willis who still farm together plan to continue attending the Boalsburg Farmers Market on Tuesdays and the North Atherton Farmers Market in State College on Saturdays during the growing season.

Though the oldest market in Centre County has suffered setbacks over the years, loyal customers continue to show up every Saturday from about June to October, searching for fresh, affordable produce from a farmer named Mark. He has the ability to connect with people, to gain their trust and to maintain that trust. And in a world with so much uncertainty, I couldn’t be more grateful or prouder to know that such a man not only exists, but grows my food.