Farmer's Market

On Thursday evenings, 5:30 to 8:30, there's a farmer's market in downtown Grand Junction.  We've been in the area nearly 2 weeks but hadn't toured downtown or gone out to dinner until last night.  We started our outing with a dim sum platter at a Chinese restaurant, preceded, in my case, with a cup of hot and sour soup; delicious chow, lousy service.

We strolled through the farmer's market after dinner, 

admiring the many neat sculptures along the way.

  

It was 94 F degrees last night so we didn't dawdle much and I didn't bother noting

 the names of the sculptures - nor the artists' names, nor the asking price. 

This piece, with all the detail and various shapes, must have taken years to complete.

Trumbo*, a prolific screenwriter (Exodus, Spartacus, many more) who won 2 Oscars, 

hailed from Grand Junction, liked to write in the bathtub.

I love 'junk' sculpture!

Ribbit!

This chubby fellow, obviously a prince, probably gets lots of kisses.  

Didn't get one from Trish though - which, I assume, indicates she's not seeking 

an upgrade from her current prince

Right rear: beautiful buffalo sculpture, chrome I think.

Center: drumming/dancing/martial arts group gave impressive performance. 

Front:  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!  I'm sure that guy felt enormously relieved when he finally 

straightened up.  We didn't hang around to find out, though, having just eaten dinner. 

*Trumbo bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Trumbo

Farmer's Market

On Saturday mornings, the Santa Fe Farmer's Market is in full swing.  It's one of the best I've seen and it's the real deal, unlike many so-called farmer's markets that are dominated by vendors of homemade jewelry, clothing, knickknacks, you name it, with very little actual produce.  The SF Market has dozens of fresh produce vendors plus baked goods, homemade jams and jellies, seasonings, cheese, etc.  It draws a large crowd, many of whom come for breakfast, selecting their favorite goodies from one vendor, their beverages from another.

Fine looking mushrooms.

We purchased salad makings, French bread, Christmas feta cheese and cooking greens.  Also got some beets, one of Trish's favorites.  Last night's dinner, mostly Market stuff, was excellent.  Trish prepared a fine pot of cooked greens, nicely spiced with hot sausage.

Totally rad, man.

NM may be the only state with an official state question, 'Red or green?'  It refers to chili, a standard offering at most restaurants, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.  There's a third option, Christmas, which is some of both.  The cheese we got had both colors, nice and spicy, the way we like it.

The source of our Christmas cheese.

One of the few non-food stalls in the open air portion of the market.

The market extends into a large building, where there's a 50/50 mix of prepared food

 and non-food vendors.