The Market Loses a Friend

Christmas Eve brought unexpected news- Jim Beverwyk, a longtime volunteer and friend of the Española Farmers’ Market, had died. I first knew Jim’s wife, Mary Parsaca, while the market was still on Don Diego Street, noticing a frequent customer carrying a big basket on her arm. Later Jim started coming as well.  Mary and Jim had been Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya in the nineteen sixties, about the same time that I was teaching as a volunteer in Guinea. We shared an enjoyment of life in Africa and a love of the communal spirit of open-air markets. When Jim retired from his work with incarcerated youth, he started volunteering on Monday mornings at the market, hauling the heavy metal A-frame signs and placing them around town to remind customers that we were open. He often returned to chat or work in the garden oval he and Mary cultivated. During election years, Jim would be sitting all morning at a table in the center of the market, registering voters. The market has grown from the collective efforts of the farmers and many volunteers. Jim’s generous heart gave out but his spirit continues in the stories we share.


Sabra Moore, Market Manager
Abiquiu, New Mexico