The Saturday Marche Du Jour Market is a Real Find
By CHARLES FERRUZZA
I've learned that if I tell my friends about Marche Du Jour -- the Saturday-only, Paris-inspired outdoor market in Prairie Village -- I have to be very specific about the details.
I got an angry phone call one Sunday morning from my friend Liz, who yelled: "I didn’t see any of the vendors you promised me that would be there. We drove to the location you gave me and there was nothing but a lady selling flowers in the parking lot."
If I had been thinking when I first told Liz about Marche du Jour (translation: Market of the Day), I would have explained it this way:
Drive to 3848 W. 75th Street; it's the red brick, one-story office center at the northeast corner of Mission Road and 75th with a parking lot in front of it.
Yes, there's typically two ladies, Lois and Marcia from Bristleridge Gardens, selling plants and flowers in the parking lot (July 12 and 19 will be the last market of the season for these gardeners), but the real action is in the hidden courtyard of the building, accessible through the entrance of Delaware Interiors (which also has elegant home design things for sale), down a hallway and out a rear door.
In the courtyard, Sally and David Calvin of Widgeonwood Farm hold court, selling a variety of fresh vegetables: tomatoes, sweet onions, Armenian cucumbers, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and peaches.
A lot of the customers don't come for the fresh produce but to stock up on Sally Calvin’s homemade canned goods: apple butter, peach jam, hot cherry salsa, peach-and-Vidalia onion salsa, watermelon pickles, olive tapenade, and champagne mustard. The array of Widgeonwood products changes every week, although the big sellers -- glass jars filled with jams, jellies, sweet-and-spicy salsas -- are pretty consistent.
The Calvins typically bring a selection of "Pies by Mary," freshly baked by one of their neighbors in Columbia, Missouri – this Saturday’s featured desserts are fresh raspberry and peach pies – as well as sticky caramel rolls, carefully packed cuts of lamb tucked in ice-packed coolers, jars of freshly-made pesto (including a lemon basil roasted almond pesto that Sally Calvin insists is great in a homemade pasta salad) and lots of little samples to taste. These upscale farm delicacies aren’t cheap, but then again, the Calvins are getting up before dawn and hauling it over from Columbia.
Through mid-October, Marche du Jour begins each Saturday at 8 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m. Rain or shine. If it is raining, the courtyard is closed and the Calvins sell their merchandise from little tables on the north side of the building.
But that probably requires another explanation.
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