Every October, a corner of Portage la Prairie's west end starts to smell like a farm stand. Under the signs and the tailgate of a truck, volunteers in Rotary blue stack sacks of red potatoes, carrots, parsnips and beets in the parking lot outside Golden West Broadcasting at 2390 Sissons Drive. Cars roll through, windows down, and members load the trunks without anyone ever having to get out. It is, by all accounts, one of the longest-running and least glamorous fundraisers in the city, and this year it returns for the 47th time.
The sale runs Wednesday, Oct. 7 through Friday, Oct. 9, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, with a Saturday session from noon to 5 p.m. if any produce remains. There are no pre-orders and no reservations. It is first come, first served, and the club's own members say the shelves can empty fast.
The event's longevity is the story. Over 47 years, the vegetable sale has raised money for the community, according to club member Preston Meier, who spoke with PortageOnline ahead of this year's sale. That money has flowed back into the community through projects like the Rotary Duck Pond, the Portage skateboard park, exchange-student costs and, more recently, the club's proposed Rotary Legacy Play Space. Meier has described the sale as a familiar fall tradition, one that has not missed a year since it began.
What makes it work is a simple bargain between the club and the growers who supply it. Local producers including LA Quality Products, Jeffries Bros. Vegetable Growers and SB Vegetable Growers have continued to provide the vegetables that fill the truck each fall. Their support has let Rotary hold prices at the same levels as the previous year, Meier said, a small but meaningful gesture for families stocking up ahead of Thanksgiving.
Jeffries Bros. Vegetable Growers, based near Portage la Prairie, has itself been growing vegetables for more than 45 years, producing asparagus, red beets, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, cauliflower and winter squash. The farm's history runs roughly parallel to the sale's, a reminder of how deeply the fundraiser is rooted in the agricultural economy of the surrounding countryside.
The mechanics of the sale have barely changed in decades. Customers drive into the lot, where volunteers take their order and load it into the vehicle. The club's president in a recent year, Dave Roberts, described the setup as "just an ideal place, lots of parking," with a drive-through format that means buyers "don't even have to get out of your car if you don't want to." The produce comes in bulk, including 50-pound sacks of potatoes, carrots, onions and beets. Asked what someone might do with 50 pounds of beets, Roberts laughed and offered the only sensible answer: "Make a lot of borscht."
That scale is part of the appeal. This is not a boutique farmers market. It is a bulk sale built for people with freezers, large families or a serious appetite for root vegetables. Meier said this year's selection includes beets, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, bulk onions and, as usual, bulk red potatoes. Thursday is traditionally the biggest day, and customers who want the full selection are encouraged to arrive early. Some items sold out last year.
The sale lands just ahead of Thanksgiving, giving residents a chance to pick up locally grown vegetables for the holiday table. It also arrives during a busy stretch for the club, which is marking its 75th anniversary. Rotary has been holding open houses and fundraising events throughout the year, including a recent open house at Stride Place for the proposed Rotary Legacy Play Space, a 1,200-square-foot indoor play area planned as an addition to the arena. The vegetable sale is one of the ways the club expects to fund its share.
Meier credited Rotarian Jan Verwey and her committee with preparing the sale each year. "Jan Verwey has been looking after this fundraiser and project for the last number of years, and she and her committee do an amazing job getting everything ready," he said. "Look for the truck, look for the signs."
For a club that has been part of Portage la Prairie for three-quarters of a century, the vegetable sale may be the most visible thing it does. It requires no tickets, no admission and no special occasion. It asks only that people show up, hand over some cash and drive away with a trunk full of food grown a few miles away. The money stays local. The vegetables do too.
Meier, reflecting on the year, tied it all back to the community that has supported the club for so long. "I'm thankful for the community," he said. "I've been a part of this community for a long time, and just to see the people, the support, and the general overall feeling, our community is doing really, really well, and we certainly want to keep those things going."
The 47th annual Rotary vegetable sale runs Wednesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Golden West Broadcasting parking lot, 2390 Sissons Drive, with a Saturday session from noon to 5 p.m. if produce remains. Admission is free, and the sale continues until the vegetables run out.