Over thirty years ago Curtis Williams and his wife Roxine dreamed about starting a farm and selling their produce at local markets.
A graduate of Cal Polytechnic, Williams studied agriculture and started the first farm cooperative in St. Louis in the 1970s. Yet in order to feed his family, Williams gave up farming to build furniture.
That was until 1995 when the Williams family moved to Emmit, Idaho, purchased 17 acres of farm land and their dream finally came to fruition. Literally.
This summer and fall, Williams and his family, including relatives from Arizona, will be selling fabulous fruit at the Ketchum and Hailey Farmers’ Markets. Already he has cartons of strawberries, cherries, raspberries, and apricots. Come mid-July, he’ll have blackberries too. On the Ketchum Market’s first day, his stand was by far the most packed (and it wasn’t even high season yet).
When asked which of the many weekly markets is his favorite, Williams was quick to defend them all. “Each is such a different experience,” he said comparing the busyness of downtown Boise to the quiet of Ketchum. But if he had to pick, he’d have to vote for Hailey because the new location next to Bank of America is just “fabulous.”
Stop by your local farmers’ market, every Tuesday in Ketchum from 2:30-6pm and every Thursday in Hailey from 2:30-6pm.
