When Sharron Higgins was nine years old, she marched into her local library, picked up a how-to book, and taught herself to crochet. She never told me why a nine-year-old would do such a thing – spend a Saturday afternoon in the library, I mean – but the reasons now probably don’t matter all that much. Higgins is now well in her 70s and crochet is still her thing, perhaps even more so. While she paid her bills and spent days as a bookkeeper, she is now owner and operator and chief creative of Wild Texas beART, a craft business where she creates crochet animals. Most of them are humorous, like “Tater Swift” and “Frankenshine;” others a bit edgy. All of them fun.
“About six years ago, I kept seeing all these little crocheted animals online and thought, well, that looks fun,” she said. “So I switched from blankets to octopuses. The kids loved the little tentacles. I even made long-tentacle ones that looked like jellyfish. Since then, things have just expanded from there.”
I ran into Higgins at the Arlington Farmers Market, which is home to vendors like her, plus a lively mix of produce, meat, honey, tamales, jam, handmade goods, and enough pastries to make your Saturday morning feel like a holiday. Tucked at 300 W. Front Street, the market runs every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
And business is good. In the first five months after opening, the market drew around 15,000 visitors, according to Mike Gace, another of the market managers. People lingered anywhere from 15 to 44 minutes, which in farmers-market time is basically a mini-vacation.
“You see more people walking downtown on Saturday mornings than I’ve ever seen. I don’t live too far from here,” said Saundra Hill, who was sipping on lemonade she bought there. “We don’t just come here to the market—we’re actually on our way to the library to get some books for my seven-year-old.”
If the market expands, the goal is to build a dedicated facility—something vendors and customers alike would welcome.
“I come for the bread and stay for everything I didn’t plan to buy,” said Abigail Townsend. “It’s my Saturday happiness. Where else can you buy carrots, cookies, and a crocheted potato pop star?”
Down the row, you can usually spot the plume of savory smoke marking the jerky booth owned by Joshua Franklin. He’s been selling jerky for years—Saturdays in Arlington, Sundays in Flower Mound.
Their process is old-school and labor-intensive.
“We get our meat directly from a farm in Seagoville,” Franklin said. “We hand-cut it, marinate it in a vacuum-turning barrel that pulls the air out so the flavor goes deep, and then smoke it for six to eight hours. No liquid smoke shortcuts.”
They even accidentally invented smoked oranges. “We left some on the grill one day and forgot about them,” he said. “Turned out great!”
That’s a story they often tell visitors. Which is fine by Jennifer Collins, who loves talking to the vendors and hearing the story behind their creations.
“I walk in planning to spend five minutes and walk out 40 minutes later with jam, jerky, and life advice from a guy selling tomatoes,” she said, laughing.
I don’t think it’s too early to say that the Downtown Arlington Farmers Market will become a Saturday staple. While there, I had a sandwich at The Pastrami Shop. A week later, I had the same sandwich.
Higgins thinks it will become The Thing to do on Saturday mornings. She’s been making the rounds at markets and fairs for 18 years now and sees the potential brewing in Arlington.
“I can definitely see it being even bigger than it is now – and this is already a nice size,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll be right here to see all that.”
Kenneth Perkins has been a contributing writer for Arlington Today for more than a decade. He is a freelance writer, editor and photographer, and teaches Journalism and Writing at Bowie High School.\
Ronnisha and Leslie Dukes of The Pastrami Shop at Downtown Arlington Farmers Market
