T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Barbara Knollinger and Sandra Howe from Wheeling are among the customers who stopped by Ebbert Farm Market when it opened Tuesday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Ebbert Farm Market is open for business for another season, and a steady stream of customers perused the aisles filled with fresh fruit and vegetables Tuesday.

The market is open 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Owners Jerry and Lova Ebbert were on hand to greet customers.

“We just opened today, we’ve been pretty busy,” Jerry Ebbert said. “It’s a very good opening day. We expect a good year. Now that we’ve had some decent rains, the crops are looking good.”

He added that the weather did not delay them for very long.

“We got a little later start this year because it was so cold and wet early,” he said. “Our season just started today, and we’re open a few days later than we normally are later than we normally are. We normally are open before this.

“Our season lasts until the end of October. We’ll have sweet corn and fresh produce through September,” he said. “I think local products will always have a great demand. There’s a strong demand for local produce, and I think we’ll have a good season if today’s any indication. … There’s more demand than there is supply, which is always the case with the early product.”

He said the market has also taken the economy and its toll on customers into account.

“Our prices are up substantially on what our input costs were on growing, but we’ve held our prices down as much as we can to try to help everybody out during this,” he said. “If we passed our expense increases on, it would be an awful difference in price.”

Customers enjoy the selection.

“We’ve got a good blend of everything. We’ve got a lot of loyal customers while we’ve had this over the last 30 years,” Jerry Ebbert said. “We’ve got customers that my parents had while they were doing it before we took over. A lot of good loyal customers.

“It’s almost like a reunion every year when we open up. We haven’t seen these people for about nine months,” Ebbert said. “It’s our 102nd year as a family business. We’re just glad to have the support of the Ohio Valley. It makes it all the better.”

Customers included Barbara Knollinger and Sandra Howe from Wheeling.

“The corn is excellent, and all this stuff being home grown, it’s great,” Knollinger said.

“Best corn around, and fresh,” Kim Connor of St. Clairsville said. “Support our local businesses and … my son (Titus) happens to work here. He just started this summer. We wanted to come in and see how he was doing.”

“(I come here) every year when corn comes in,” Bob Dorris of Shadyside said. “Supporting local is everything. We’re all from small towns, and we support each other. It’s very important to support small businesses.”

The market is located at 68101 Ebbert North Road off U.S. 40 east of St Clairsville.