Fresh fruits on display at J & J's Fruit Stand. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Gates Guarin

Fresh produce a boon to local sellers

Aug 5, 2022 | 5:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Hatters looking for the freshest fruits and vegetables have plenty to choose from around town.

Produce stands have set up shop in parking lots across the city, some since late June. The past few weeks have seen the arrival of the well-known Taber corn, and Texas-sized watermelons bigger than your head.

Freshly picked Okanagan fruit stands, like J & J’s, have been seeing strong turnout from the community. There are three J & J’s stands around town in Crescent Heights, Meadowlands and the Canadian Tire parking lot, where Kyla Vair operates out of. Vair has been with J & J’s for six years running and had been putting out the fruits of the day to sell at the stand. The list of produce includes Rainier cherries, Abbottsford blueberries and Red Haven peaches, all picked and shipped to Medicine Hat on a weekly basis.

Vair says nothing beats her stand’s freshly picked fruit.

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“This is fresh, two days fresh off the tree, it’s the best thing you can get,” Vair says. “You get tons more flavour, you get much more juice out of it, it’s one of those, messy and you-need-a-napkin moments.”

Vair adds the harvest out in B.C. has been a strong one.

“They’ve actually been pretty good. From what I’ve heard, we did get quite a bit of rain out there, but honestly, the crops are doing pretty good.”

Just across the Canadian Tire parking lot, Steve Barfuss and his two sons were hard at work selling Washington-imported watermelons for Bob’s Watermelons. Barfuss says Hatters are no stranger to their crop, and sales have been steady despite only being set up for a little over a week.

“Since we’ve come in in the last week, we’ve had excellent sales,” says Barfuss. “We’ve been doing this here in Medicine Hat for 40 plus years, and we’ve built up a real-life clientele.”

Barfuss says he is proud to be doing this with his family.

“It’s a good thing. My boys work hard with me through the summer doing it, and we kind of keep the family tradition alive,” Barfuss adds.

Hatters may be familiar with the Cazes’ Fruit Stand in the Leons parking lot. The Cazes have been in the business for 44 years, and are also family-operated. Juliette Cazes says it’s important to buy local, especially when it’s a family-run business.

“It’s kind of cool that you stick with family,” Cazes says.

Vair echoes the buy local sentiment. “For me personally, it also helps the local families that are working … to provide and grow the food for everybody, so just helping out local families is my main concern.”

If you’ve been thinking about going out and purchasing fresh produce at one of the local stands, you don’t have a ton of time left. Once the season starts to turn from summer to fall, you’ll have to wait all winter for those familiar stands to return once again.