MONTICELLO - The cold, wet spring weather caused so many local growers to come up empty early in the harvest season, it delayed the opening of several area farmer's markets.

"It has really made a mess of things this year," said Tom Hensley, who grows a wide assortment of vegetables on his property near Bement.

Hensley, who normally has plenty of green beans by mid-July, was tired of telling customers at the Monticello Farmer's Market on Thursday that he had none.

"We're a few weeks behind," Hensley said, as customers stopped by to purchase the many products he did have. There were plenty of large onions and green peppers, tender potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and yellow squash.

By late afternoon, his crate of tomatoes was nearly empty.

"I had one flat of tomatoes here," Hensley said. "This time of year we usually get 25 or 30."

But Hensley and other vendors had no complaints about the number of customers who flocked to the shady area near the Allerton Library to find locally grown produce and handmade items, such as jewelry and handbags.

Theresa A. Allen, visiting the market for the first time this year, bought a couple of pounds of tomatoes from Hensley. She said she likes shopping at the market, to support local vendors.

"I think it's kind of neat, old-fashioned," Allen said, adding everything she buys is delicious.

Melody Lampert, who bought peaches from Sager Farms in Southern Illinois and a handbag made by a Monticello craftswoman, said she finds bargains.

"The prices are a lot less than I pay in Champaign," Lampert said.

But at any price, sweet corn was not found in Monticello, although one vendor promised to have some at the following market.

At the farmer's market in Arthur, sweet corn first appeared July 12, later than usual.

"We're just barely getting produce in now," said George Fritz, coordinator of the Arthur market. "Because of the cool and wet weather, it is down."

The Decatur Farmer's Market, which added Tuesdays this year, has also felt the impact.

"The produce is a little slower because of the cool, wet spring, but now we are seeing the produce come in," said Vada Wond, a volunteer who helps set up the Central Park market.

On the positive side, Wond said she was glad to see Sager return with its peaches after missing a year because of a late frost which destroyed crops last year.

The Sager family of Kell had some peaches left at the end of the day Thursday in Monticello, but had sold out of blueberries and blackberries.

Tina Sager, a regular in Monticello since the market opened six years ago, said the rain affects the peach crop by producing more extra ripe fruits.

"The weather is an important factor," said Sager, who was selling her produce with the help of her two daughters. "The warmer, the faster they ripen."

Sager has many regular customers who express their joy in seeing that she has returned. She credits the superior taste of her peaches partly to the fact that they are picked just two or three days before they are sold.

"The peaches in the stores are typically hydro-cooled, instantly freezed and thawed," Sager said. "These are tree-ripened peaches."

Liz Cresap, in her third year of selling beef from her family's ranch at the market, said she believes the meat tastes better because the cattle are fed on corn, partly from their own land.

"We started doing this when we realized the quality of beef available declined," she said, adding that older people sometimes tell her the steaks and roasts bring back memories of another era. "We produce a quality product, and we wanted people to know what beef should taste like."

Cresap, whose White Heath farm has been in the family for six generations, said the weather does not make a dent in production.

"We feed out 300 cattle year round," she said.

Area markets (List is not comprehensive.)

City: Arthur

Time and day: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday mornings

Dates: Last weekend in June through Labor Day weekend

Location: downtown, Vine and Progress streets

Sponsor: Arthur Area Association of Commerce

Information: 543-2242

City: Charleston

Time and day: 6 to about 11 a.m. Wednesdays

Dates: June through mid-October

Location: on the square

Sponsor: Uptown Merchants Association

Information: Mike Knoop, 348-8018

City: Clinton

Time and day: 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays

Dates: May through Oct. 11

Location: Mr. Lincoln's Square, downtown

Sponsor: Clinton Chamber of Commerce

Information: 935-3364 or 866-433-9488

City: Decatur

Time and day: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays

Dates: June through October

Location: Central Park

Sponsor: City Centre Decatur

Information: Vada Wond, 428-3380

City: Monticello

Time and day: 3 to 6 p.m. Thursdays

Dates: June through early October

Location: State and Livingston streets.

Sponsor: Monticello Main Street

Information: 762-9318

Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.