Sidney Dairy Barn Owner Dennis Riggs stops a former employee who came by to get ice cream on the day before she gets married and gets teary-eyed.

“Do you remember the three things for happiness?” he asked.

“Something…” she said.

“Always have something to look forward to both near and far,” he starts. “Always enjoy what you do. And here’s where I’m going to tear up; find someone to love you back,” he said with a shaky voice.

In Sidney, IL, a rural bedroom community just outside of Urbana, Riggs has been the face of the Sidney Dairy Barn. Each summer he hires on 14 students who quickly become his kin.

“These are my kids,” he said.

Riggs, a lifelong Sidney resident, who is also a fourth-generation farmer, grabbed ice cream with his mother at what was then known as the Sidney Dairy Bar as a child.

“I’ve eaten here (since it’s been open),” he said. “My mom and I used to make homemade ice cream on the farm, once a month. All the rest of the time if we needed a treat, we’d come up here to the Sidney Dairy Bar. So when I had a chance to buy the place I thought, ‘Hey, that’s a win-win.’”

Riggs spent the first two years fine-tuning the machines and the mix they’d serve under his ownership.

“I never serve anything unless I like it,” he said.

And with staples like chocolate and vanilla alongside crowd favorites like wild cherry, fresh strawberry, cappuccino, peppermint, mint, orange and pumpkin served on a seasonal basis, the Sidney Dairy Barn has become a destination stop for University of Illinois visitors, local nursing homes and school groups.

“We have people drive from Gibson City, Gifford and Paris just to get the lemon,” he said. “They will take home four-quarts and then take some for the road.”

“I’ve taken ice cream to church board or town board meetings where there is controversy and there’s something about when everyone is sitting around with a cup of ice cream, it reduces tension.”

He also enjoys hearing that the product the Sidney Dairy Barn serves helps people who are having trouble eating.

“I’ve had two cancer patients say the black cherry is something they could taste, and I’ve had people who have their mouth wired shut after an auto accident live on milkshakes for two weeks,” he said.

Providing customers with a quality product is also high on Riggs’ list. A farmer who works the land just six miles south of Sidney, he understands the important role farmers play in making the ice cream.

“Our product is about true agriculture as you can get,” he said. “That milk came from a cow just a few days ago.”

The milk is brought in from Fox Valley Farms in Elgin, IL.

“They do a tremendous job of creating a product exactly how I want it,” Riggs said.

And with a rich, thick, 94% fat-free ice cream, the product is exactly what customers want. For Riggs, it all comes back to the people.

It’s not unlike him to hop behind the window and take orders.

“But it slows down the whole process because I talk to everyone,” he said. “I like it all. I even take the trash out. I don’t mind doing it because I usually talk to people while I’m working.”

Building that relationship, patrons often think of Riggs when they are on vacation. That is how the Sidney Dairy Barn got all of the stuffed cows that line the ordering window; people bring the animals to Riggs.

With a small grass pasture and a stream right behind the behind, eating at the Sidney Dairy Barn feels just like your on the farm.

“I tell people you come into Sidney from the west and we are the first ice cream shop on the right,” he said.

Riggs will take the Moo Mobile, the Sidney Dairy Barn food truck, filled with tasty treats, to the Homer Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. While the selection may change throughout the summer months, the Moo Mobile will be stocked mint ice cream cups, non-dairy options- raspberry sorbet & non-dairy blue birthday cake, and quarts of vanilla, chocolate, mint & chocolate/vanilla twist this week.

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The Homer Farmer’s Market started as just an idea in the head of a couple of women who dreamed of a place for the community to gather in their town.

Sue Smith and Kelly Vetter were part of a local gardening group that met at the Homer library. The group was facilitated by Laura Wetzel.

It was a place where gardeners of all experience levels could meet to talk about topics like the basics of gardening, larger scale farming, organic gardening, how-to’s and how-not-to’s.

According to Sara Essig, one of the directors of the Homer Farmers Market and a member of the original gardening group, the group met for two seasons at the library.

“Somewhere along the line, I think that second year, we began to talk about the possibility of doing a market.”

Smith and Vetter were the first ones to talk about the idea of having a local market in Homer.

“They had talked about the idea of having a local market where it’s sort of like ‘Homer’s front porch’ – a place where people can share produce, and visit, and share the community.”

Smith put some time into researching how other farmer’s markets ran and what made them successful.

“Sue had done a lot of research about other local markets. She talked to people in Urbana and Champaign and Tuscola and Danville.”

The gardening group was excited about the idea of having a local market.

“We had at least four people in that gardening group that were interested in being vendors.”

Essig was a part of the group, but initially she did not plan on being a vendor. She is now one of three directors of the market, along with Crystal Allen and Laura DeAth.

“I just wanted there to be a farmer’s market so I could come buy produce.”

Even though Essig did not originally plan on being a vendor, she now has a booth selling her fabric crafts, and occasionally some produce.

During the first year of the market there were two produce vendors. They also had vendors selling jewelry, crafts, and baked goods.

“We started with maybe 6 vendors total initially. But by the end of the season, we were up to 8 or 9.”

The success that the vendors experienced was not the main thing that the organizers were excited about.

“But the biggest thing that happened that I think was the original idea that Sue and Kelly were talking about is that people started coming every week anyway to visit. Yes, they wanted produce but they were also coming to connect. It was really becoming kind of a ‘homer’s front porch’ kind of thing.”

For Essig, this is one of the reasons that she has stuck with it since the beginning.

The market has grown since the first season.

“We’ve had as many as 16 [vendors], but usually settles in around 7 or 8.”

The market is on Wednesdays from 4-6 pm. It is held in the grassy area just north of the Vintage Bakery on Main Street in Homer.

The first market of the year is May 15th.

So far, this years market will have three produce vendors, two sweet corn vendors, fabric crafts, copper yard sculptures, candle melts and other misc. decorative crafts.

There will also be two new features at this year’s market.

“This year, the Moo Mobile is coming to the market so we’re really excited about that. And Harden’s Bison Ranch is joining us so we’ll have meat for sale.”

Essig has a couple of things she wishes she could see at the market.

“I would dearly love to have a honey vendor. And I would love to have an egg vendor. To do it a market is just really complicated.”

New vendors can always join, even if it’s just for a week or two.

“Everyone has too many tomatoes or too many zucchini or too many cucumbers, and there’s no reason not to have a table for a few weeks at the market and sell some of that extra produce so someone else can take advantage of it.”

To have a table at the market, you can pay $5 for the week or $50 for the whole season.

“We have an application. You let us know when you’re gonna be here and what you’re going to be selling. It’s pretty easy and we’re pretty easy going.”

The organizers do turn down applications occasionally, though. They are looking for local, homegrown, or homemade.

“For the most part, we’re trying to have produce and homemade things.”

“Even craft things, you don’t want someone who is coming in selling mass produced items. It needs to be local, homemade crafts.”

The market is a 501c(3) organization. It relies on season fees and help from the community to keep running.

“We tap in to the local community for help with things or getting the word out or things like that.”

“We have our season fees and the market fees. The bank has been wonderful about printing fliers for us. We get donations every now and then. The village has helped us with a few things.”

“Initially especially, the village was a big help. They made a big donation. Of course we’re on village property. We don’t have to pay to use it because they see it as an advantage. It brings people in.”

Later in the season this year, there will be a vendor raffle at the market.

“We’ll wait to start in July. If you go to a booth and buy something, you’ll get a raffle ticket. We’ll put all those tickets in for the day and at the end of the day we’ll draw. If you win, you’ll get something from all the vendors.”

“If you can’t pick it up that day, you can pick it up the next week.”

Updates about what vendors are coming, what produce will be available, weather cancellations, and other information can be found on the Homer Farmer’s Market Facebook page.

On just a couple of occasions, the market has had to be postponed due to weather.

“We do have a rain day. If it rains out on Wednesday, we do the same hours on Thursday.”

Weather warnings are usually posted by Wednesday at 2 pm.

The vendors and their wares vary from week to week, so the Facebook page is a great tool to know what will be available at the market that week. Essig typically posts vendor information on Tuesdays.

Essig loves the local market because of the sense of community that it encourages.

“I wanted a farmers market because I wanted to come buy produce but I also like the whole idea like Kelly and Sue had about a community gathering space that happens every week for a few hours and people can come up and see the same people.”

“We have people who come up each week and meet each other at the market.”

“The Moo Mobile will be a draw for more kids and more families.”

“That’s part of what we want the market to be – a place to come and see other people in your community.”

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