Crisp watermelon. Plump ears of corn. Tomatoes minus the salmonella scare.

It's no wonder local farmers markets are reeling in shoppers.

Red, yellow and —- yes, even white —- tomatoes from Brennan Washington's farm, along with more than a dozen other vendors, packed out the Lawrenceville Farmers Market on Saturday during the market's opening weekend.

With Georgia tomatoes in the clear, a local farmer and Lawrenceville market manager Washington expects the tainted tomato incident to "pique people's interest in local food."

"Our phone has been ringing off the hook with people wanting to know when they're ready," said Washington, who grows 20 types of heirloom tomatoes.

Vendors from all over Gwinnett County came to sell not just farm-fresh fruits and veggies, but also baked goods, jam, plants and even homemade organic doggie treats for Fido.

Gwinnett residents also flock to the weekly Suwanee Farmers Market, where shoppers regularly line up by 7:45 a.m. to wait for farmers such as David White to finish unloading.

White said he values the buyer-farmer relationships that farmers markets foster.

"I'd much rather the person who gets my produce relate it back to mine and my wife's face," he said.

The markets also can serve as living libraries for shoppers of all ages. Experts are on hand, armed with farm stories.

"A lot of what we do is educate people," said Amy Doherty, events coordinator for the city of Suwanee. It's not like going to the grocery store, she said.

And a good education in, say, locally grown strawberries can be wonderfully sweet.

GWINNETT FARMERS MARKETS

Lawrenceville Farmers Market

Open 8 a.m.-1 p.m. every Saturday until Sept. 27

179 W. Crogan St, Lawrenceville (Lil' River Grill parking lot)

www.visitlawrenceville.com

678-226-2639

Suwanee Farmers Market

Open 8 a.m.-noon every Saturday until Oct. 11 (except Sept. 20)

370 Buford Highway, Suwanee (Town Center Park)

www.suwanee.com

770-945-8996, Ext. 335