by Marc Strauss

BLOOMINGTON – Mark O’Rourke appreciates the passion of the people who show up every Saturday morning for the Farmers Market in Downtown Bloomington. That’s because he shares that passion.

“We’ve always got those customers that, rain or shine, heat or cold, will always be out there early Saturday morning to pick up some fresh produce,” O’Rourke said.

Listen to Mark O’Rourke from O’Rourke Family Gardens:

O’Rourke and his wife Rita operate O’Rourke Family Gardens in Downs, one of the vendors at the Farmers Market. They specialize in home grown fruit and vegetables, including several different varieties of potatoes.

“A few years back we had at least seven different types of regular spud potatoes in addition to two or three different varieties of sweet potatoes,” said O’Rourke. “There’s a difference between a fresh potato and a potato you get from the supermarket. If you bought it from us then you know it was harvested the day before, probably within the last 24 hours.”

In reality, O’Rourke Family Gardens is actually the product two families.

“(Rita) grew up on her family’s farm just south of Leroy. They would grow produce on their farm in the summer but they would also wholesale produce and go to several (farmers) markets 20 or 30 years ago. She’s the face of the market in Downtown Bloomington.”

“We harvest on Fridays, which is another opportunity for people to come out to the farm and pick up produce direct from us. She really loves being downtown, she loves seeing all the people and the return customers. She was just saying the other day that she’s very thankful and amazed with all of the return customers that come back year in and year out that come by our stand and buy our produce.

O’Rourke Family Gardens is located in Downs, 8 miles east of Bloomington. You can find their stand at the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market and every Wednesday at the Downs Farmers Market.

Marc Strauss can be contacted at [email protected]