North Grand Farmer’s Market

Founders and managers, Dick and Letha Demoss, have selling their wares and produce at farmer’s markets for the past 37 years. It all started with their daughter’s 4-H project.

That was the day the Demoss Pumpkin Farm was born.

“They [4-H] gave her a little garden plot to plant whatever she wanted,” Dick said. “She wanted pumpkins, and we just carried on from there.”

The Demoss’ now dedicate 16 acres of their family farm near Gilbert to growing fresh produce, making baked goods and jarring a wide variety of jams, but pumpkins are what they’re best known for.

Six acres of land is dedicated to pumpkin farming alone.

“We take about 5000 pounds [of pumpkins] to market every week in-season [early fall],” Dick said. “When it gets to be later in the season we let people come pick their own pumpkins at the farm.”

Dick, 81, and Letha, 66, say it’s the customers that keep them going with the business.

“It’s the people,” Dick said. “Our customer base is really loyal after all these years.”

The Demoss’ began the business while both were still working at Iowa State. Dick worked for 20 years as Manager of Central Stores, while Letha was at Iowa State for 43 years in what is now the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Their farmer’s market began in front of what is now the abandoned train depot downtown, but relocated to the North Grand Mall in the early ‘90s when they founded the North Grand Farmer’s Market.  The new market may have started small, but it has grown in the last twenty years.

“We have 27 or 28 vendors now,” Dick said.

That number is split between Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings as not all vendors can commit to both days.

The market is open from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and 8 a.m. until noon on Saturdays.

The Demoss Pumpkin Farm is also available for gatherings, cookouts, hayrides, birthday parties, bon-fires and about anything else other than weddings.