814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 6,1986
Baronners Set Standard For Local Produce
BY MARGIE FUSCO
Cambria Co. Correspondent
HOLLIDAYSBURG - Bill
Baronner helped to put the nine
Kovach kids through college and
trade schools. He’s done the same
for two generations of Kellys, close
to three dozen youngsters, not to
mention countless others in Blair
County. How? Through summer
jobs at his produce stand.
Since 1949, Baronner’s stand in
Hollidaysburg has set a hallmark
for local produce. Today, from the
unimposing wooden front on the
concrete-and-brick building, Bill
Baronner and his son Bobby know
they can sell almost 4,500 dozen
ears of sweet corn a day, in season.
From the fields behind the stand,
they can anticipate moving as
many as 4,000 quarts of
strawberries daily, about 70
percent of which are pick-your
own.
The Baronner produce station
tradition began in 1918 when Bill’s
father began selling wholesale
produce. The Baronners intended
to stay in wholesaling, but after the
end of World War 11, the profit
margin began to fall. “Chain
stores were attracting buyers and
they were dictating prices,” Bill
recalls. As an alternative one year,
the Baronners erected a modest
building with an apartment above
and decided to try a roadside
stand. The stand has been open
from the start of strawberry
season until Halloween every year
since.
Although com and strawberries
are the main attractions, people
who stop at the stand in
Hollidaysburg near the State
Police barracks can expect to find
head lettuce, spinach, snap peas,
sugar peas, wax and snap beans,
broccoli, squash, cantaloupe,
cauliflower, seedless watermelon,
tomatoes, eggplant, cale, beets,
peppers, late cabbage and pump
kins. To supplement the offerings,
Baronner’s purchase green
onions, plums, peaches, apples,
pears, and potatoes (from local
growers whenever possible) to sell
in their market.
The key to Baronner’s success
can be traced to quality. This
reporter can tell about it first
hand. Not only have I tested the
plump, sugary ears of corn... I’m
married to a former crew boss, one
of the nine Kovaches who worked a
dozen summers in Baronner’s
fields and at the stand.
There are standards set at
Baronner’s that most produce
sellers would be hard-pressed to
match. “We don’t pass off any
wormy com here,” Bill says. To be
sure of that fields are sprayed
every three days and soil is
fumigated.
Picking standards are also tight.
Bill has been known to throw out
entire wagonloads of com that was
picked a few hours too soon or too
late. “The com has to have just the
right plumpness, that pearly color
that tells you the sugar is
at its peak,” former crew boss
Dennis Kovach explains. To keep
that com at its peak, what doesn’t
sell immediately from the yield is
<9^^^^9pHp
This attractive building houses Baronner’s Market, which
draws customers from several surrounding counties.
.1
Bill Baronner spends most of the time in the market while
his son Bobby manages the fields.
Customers can select from a wide variety of top quality
produce.
kept under a shower of cool water.
When strawberries are picked
for sale in the market, they’re
graded carefully. People shopping
at the stand know they won’t find
any white-tipped or orange berries
hidden at the bottom of a basket.
The procedure is the same with all
the vegetables that come in from
the fields; each item is graded by
hand, and every questionable piece
is discarded.
Bobby Baronner admits
sometimes the emphasis on quality
can get in the way. He likes to tell
about the crew member he had to
remove from the pick-your-own
fields because the man intimidated
people by grading their
strawberries, throwing out over
or under-ripe berries, and making
the people go back and start again.
But the reputation for quality
has made Baronner’s stand a
stopping place for people from
several counties around. Baron
ner’s strawberries have even
"nn
attracted the attention of a famous
out-of-state visitor.
When former President Jimmy
Carter was visiting on the Harp
ster farms in Centre County this
past June, it was Baronner’s
strawberries that graced the table.
Bill is modest about the honor,
saying, “Old Mr. Harpster used to
love one kind of strawberries we
grew here, and he got into the habit
of calling on us when he wanted
some. I guess the rest of the family
just kind of picked up on it.”
A director of the Pennsylvania
Vegetable Growers Association,
Bill Baronner is interested in new
crop varieties. “This year we’re
trying out about 20 new varieties.
There are only two we’re con
sidering to plant next year, and
that’s about average.”
He admits there’s some risk in
trying new varieties. “You have to
try them out for several years. For
example, last year we had a real
disaster with a cantaloupe variety
that was great the year before. One
year isn’t going to tell you all you
need to know.”
He keeps about 90 acres of his
land planted in sweet corn, about
70 percent of which is bi-color and
white. He has 14 acres of
strawberries, primarily in Early
Clio and All-Star, in 10-inch raised
beds with tile drains in the fields.
He owns about 275 acres and
rents an additional 60. Much of it is
fertile bottom land along tne banks
of the Little Juniata River and
Canoe Creek. He keeps only about
175 acres in production at a time.
When autumn comes and the
stand closes down, Bill likes to take
some time for hunting. He’s been
as far away as Alaska for Dahl
sheep and Canada for moose. He
(Turn to Page B 16)
See your nearest
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BHM Farm
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RD 1
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B&R Farm
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RD 1, Box 217 A
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Ivan J Zook
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Belleville, Pa
717 935-2948
Canton, PA
Hess Farm Equipment
717-673-5143
Carlisle, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
35 East Willow Street
717 243 2686
Chambersburg, PA
Clugston
Implement Inc
RD 1
717-263 4103
Davidsburg, PA
George N Gross, Inc
R D 2, Dover, PA
717 292 1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment, Inc
Rt 283 Rheem’s Exit
717 367 1319
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C Paul Ford & Son
RD 1
814 652 2051
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Yinglmg Implements
R D 9
717 359-4848
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Meyers
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400 N Antrim Way
PO Box 97
717-597-2176
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Sweigard Bros
R D 3, Box 13
717-896-3414
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Shartlesville
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RD 1,80x1392
215-488-1025
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Sheets Brothers, Inc
1061 Carlisle St
Hanover PA 17331
717 632 3660
Honey Brook. PA
Dependable Motor Co
East Mam Street
215 273-3131
215 273 3737
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Norman D Clark
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Honey Grove PA
71/ 734 3682
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Farnsworth Farm
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103 Cemetery Street
717 584 2106
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L H Brubaker Inc
350 Strasburg Pike
717 397 5179
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RD 7, Box 405
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700 Woodcrest Av
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110 South Railroad
717 354 4191
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M&R Equipment Inc
PO Box 16
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R D 3
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215 869-2214
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Walter G Coale, Inc
2849-53
Churchville Rd
301 734 7722
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New Holland, Inc
Rt 26 East
301-662 4197
Outside MD 800 331
9122
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New Holland Inc
1201 New Windsor Rd
301 857 0711
Outside MD 800 331
9122
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Frank Rymon & Sons
201 689 1464
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609 769 0308