Spring helps KC City Market pop

What a difference a season makes!

We first visited Kansas City’s City Market last December. While the merchants were open for business, there were only a few vendors on site in the farmer’s market section.

We did meet the owner of Little Bill’s and bought some great pimento cheese spread. Our eldest daughter swears by it. She wanted a couple of containers from our recent visit. Check him out at http://www.littlebillspimentocheese.com/#!.

With the onset of spring, the merchants opened up the windows in front of their stores and were selling to visitors outdoors.

The Farmer’s Market was bustling. We again made our stop at Little Bill’s and picked up cheese for our daughter and ourselves.

We also checked out homemade bakery items from Bauman Farms in Kansas. The carrot cake was delicious. Check them out at http://www.kcfoodcircle.org/growermembers/baumans-cedar-valley-farms/.

Florists had a nice row of fresh smelling flowers available.

The merchants were very busy, too.

We checked out a few of the fruit and vegetable stands. They were packed with customers. I overheard one guy telling another he couldn’t guarantee the grapes they bought would still be around once the second person returned from checking out another stand.

We stood in line for about 15 minutes to get a couple of scoops of spices at the Al Habashi Market. The guy has to be extremely popular. He had quite the line when we got there, and it only grew as we waited for our chance to place an order.

You can tell he loves what he does. He smiles a lot and jokes with customers. He has a shtick in filling up baggies with spices. His scoops are generous. He drops the scoop back into the container from a few inches above as he moves on to the next spice to fill.

I found his hands fascinating to watch as he worked. They had spice colors on them, and they moved quickly from one spot to another as he completed customers’ orders.

He’d tell people stopping by ahead of the line where the line started. I just waited for him to tell people “No spice for you!” as a take of the old “Seinfeld” Soup Nazi guy.

Besides merchants and farmer’s market vendors, City Market is home to artists.

A high school show choir performed a few songs.

A guy played his guitar while visitors strolled by. Others played violins, flutes and drums.

We met a couple of artists painting the KC skyline and the market place.

All in all, City Market was what we thought it would be this time of the year. It was a fun experience for a little shopping and a lot of people watching.

Whether it is in your area, or in KC, check out area farmer markets. They are worth the trip. But, when in Kansas City, ensure you check out the City Market. There’s a reason the area has been hopping since the late 1850s.

For more information on the City Market, check out www.thecitymarket.org/.