After 80 years, the DiIorio outdoor market is still a dream come true
By Monette Taylor | Country World South Central
April 26, 2001 -- Over 80 years ago, Nick DiIorio was busy selling his fresh vegetables and fruit to area grocery stores and going door-to-door with what was left. Today, he would be amazed to see what his dream has become.
"Originally, my grand-father was a truck farmer and went around to grocery stores and sold his crops that way. Then, he went door-to-door. When my dad started working, he said he was never ever going to raise something he couldn't sell himself.
"When he first started being open past the seasonal time, it took him a whole week to sell his crop," said Cheryl DiIorio Cooke, daughter and one of the managers at the DiIorio Farms & Roadside Market in Hempstead.
Dilorio's has changed a lot in 80 years. The roadside market first built by Billy and Angelina Dilorio, Cooke's parents, was established in 1967. After a 16-wheeler lost control and slid into the building in the early '80's, the present building was relocated in the same place.
DiIorio's claims to be the "largest open air farmers market" in the area, and offers not only fruit and vegetables, but has branched out to include a flower shop, an outdoor living area with bar-b-que pits, custom made picnic tables and swings, a garden center and seasonal items for shoppers.
"What makes us unique from other businesses that are selling groceries is that we are a real family farm. My grand-father started it, my dad operated it, and now my brothers operate the farm and the rest of the family works here," said Cooke.
"Back in '82, the flower shop...that started as my mother's hobby... evolved into what it is now. We can do everything, world wide."
The speciality in the produce market is homegrown watermelons, sweet corn and tomatoes. If it isn't grown on the DiIorio Farms, it is purchased from area farmers, and the market is open 12 months out of the year.
"People say, 'What makes it better than if I bought it at the grocery store?' and I say that the difference is we pick it fresh...that day... and in a matter of hours, you can be serving it on your table. That's something you can't experience if you get it from chain stores," added Cooke.
"Our best selling corn, right now, is the 'G-90.' This is yellow and white on the same cob. Our watermelons are still picked by hand, and...price per pound...watermelon is probably the cheapest fruit you can eat...Even at this time of the year, watermelon may be 25-28 cents a pound and there's still not another fruit that's that price per pound."
While the family farms located in Waller, Austin and Harris counties produce most of the produce, 150 acres of watermelons and corn were almost destroyed by a hail storm in late March.
"The main reason for planting in all three counties is the weather. We never know what Mother Nature is going to dish out to us," said Cooke.
When a disaster such as hail strikes the crops, seeds are sent down to the valley and they are planted there, come up within 2-3 weeks, and are returned to the original fields in little plants. This speeds up the process of getting fresh produce back into the market and on local tables.
"One thing about farming people don't realize is that you can't just go and get a degree in farming, because...if you did that...you'd be out of business faster than you'd know what to do. By the time it's published in a book, it's already obsolete," said Cooke, although she earned a degree in Business and Home Economics from Sam Houston State University.
Presently, Cooke, her mother, two siblings, several of their children and a couple of aunts and inlaws compose the present-day DiIorio's market. Cooke credits the foresight and hard work of her parents for making the market the success that it is.
When asked about the best thing about working in the home-owned, home-grown business, Cooke said, "I love flowers. I love living things. I never get tired of fruit and I never get tired of flowers...there's always something beautiful, and something beautiful and something living are gifts from God."
