The vendors at Poplar Bluff’s downtown farmers market are doing something special for Mother’s Day.
“Our farmers market doesn’t open until the following weekend (May 15), but we are going to open a week early just for the special event,” said Downtown Poplar Bluff Director Morgan McIntosh.
The market, in the parking lot across the street from the Black River Coliseum, will be open from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday, May 8, with a twist.
“There’s never really been a specific thing for Mother’s Day,” McIntosh said. “We had a couple people say they planted flowers and are growing things specifically for something like this.”
The Saturday event will feature some of the regular vendors with hanging plants and flowers, plus more.
“I know we have a boutique coming, and I believe the park department will be setting up and selling flowers,” McIntosh said.
“We will have some produce, but it will mostly be flowers and handmade gifts,” she added.
The idea for the Mother’s Day specific event, McIntosh said, came from some of the normal vendors themselves.
“It was actually the vendors who had the idea and asked if we could do something to accommodate them,” she said.
There are several other events scheduled in downtown Poplar Bluff over the coming weeks as well, including a burger contest, skate contest and car show.
The Coffee and Cars event will take place from 8 a.m. until noon May 15, McIntosh said.
“The idea is we’re closing down Vine Street and we’re going to fill it with classic cars and get people out down here,” said McIntosh.
There will be live music and the downtown restaurants, she said, will be serving food throughout the event.
May 22 is the day for the Downtown Throwdown, a first-of-its-kind burger competition.
“It’s going to be local people, so there will be nobody from out of Poplar Bluff or out of state,” McIntosh said. “It can be restaurants or the local grillmaster from your neighborhood.
“It’s really for anyone who wants to come compete and try to win the title of best burger in Poplar Bluff.”
The event will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. along Vine Street to Moran and toward the skate park, and, McIntosh said, cooks can use either charcoal or gas.
The idea for the burger cook-off, McIntosh said, was “to do something that caters more to local people. This is something where you can go to Walmart and buy a cheap grill and come down and win. It’s really for anyone.”
Burgers will be scored by a panel of judges based on most creative, best tasting and most unique, McIntosh said.
Taste-testing may be available, she said, as long as cooks who want to do so get inspected by the health department beforehand.
Several vendors also will set up shop at the event.
“We’ll have a pretty wide variety of things,” McIntosh said. “Auntie Ann’s has definitely confirmed they are coming. Sugar Sheet Creamery is an ice cream truck from Cape Girardeau. They’ve never been here before. And, Tater’s Taco Truck will be downtown.”
In addition, there will be live music at the stage at Haffy’s Sports Bar, plus a corn hole tournament.
The event is free and is “just something to get people out. It’ll be fun to watch each other.”
The hope, McIntosh said, is to have the competition every year.
Also on May 22 is the Fifty Fifty Fest at Poplar Bluff’s Skate Park.
The event will feature not only a skate competition, but live music and food trucks.
“People can start showing up any time after 9, but we are not going to start registrations until 11,” said organizer Shawn Adams.
Registrations will continue through 12:30 p.m. when the event starts, he said.
“It’s completely free to anybody who wants to enter,” Adams said, “and there will be classes for adult advanced, adult intermediate as well as youth advanced and youth intermediate.”
Prizes during the skate competition will be donated by Backroom Boards Skate Shop and several other sponsors, Adams said, and a free concert will be played after the skating is completed.