By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
Updated 8/15/25 @ 11:45 a.m. to add another stand.
For many years, the Marsh family farm of Palmyra was one of the most popular sources of sweet corn for Whitewater residents. Their pickup truck with the bed full of the delicious treat was a frequent sight on the east side of First Citizens State Bank. Local resident Jayne Haskey told The Banner that Phil Marsh no longer plants corn, and consequently his wife Carmen and their grandchildren have retired from corn sales. Per Haskey, the grandchildren “paid their way through college working the corn truck. They have now all graduated.”
Fortunately, there are a number of nearby locations where residents can sample this year’s corn. A few of those options are shown below.
Update 8/16/25 @ 10:50 p.m. – Sara Pontel wrote to clarify “we are the farm [Sarafina Farm] at W9440 Stader that grew the Pontel sweetcorn. My husband, Kevin and I own the business.”
Banner reader Kathy Church Channing reported that there’s another area stand [shown above] operated by Rodney Pontel at W9440 Stader Road. Stader Road is off Highway 89, south of US Hwy 12, and the farm is to the west. There’s a sign at the intersection promoting their “super sweet sweet corn.” Pontel’s stand wins the prize for the most artistic display of ears of corn.
Billy Mills’s stand [shown above] next to Mills Automotive, 707 E. Milwaukee Street, appears to be the only one where the corn and other produce is refrigerated. The corn is from Holt Farms in the Delevan area. As seems to be the case with all the area farmstands, it’s self service 24/7, but it may be the only one that has lighting. Parking is easily accessible off Milwaukee St. Venmo accepted.
Matt Meiners of MY Farm has a stand [shown above] at 13205 E County Road N [beyond Walworth Ave.] a short distance past Highway 12 on the right side of the road. There’s a sign for Hidden Falls Ranch. Though, of course, it’s a busy road, there’s a good pull-off parking area. Recently corn was priced at $7/dozen or three ears for $2, and there was a selection of other produce. Matt is also a vendor at the City Market on Tuesdays.
Kolton Reu only sells corn at his stand [shown above], but he uniquely welcomes purchasers to leave the husks in a bin for his cows. His stand is located at the corner of County U and County N, basically across the street from the airport. It’s easy to pull off County U into parking by the stand.
Other stands [sorry, no pictures] :
Hwy 59, right side of the road, just before the industrial park
W8141 Clover Valley Rd. – reportedly they also had really good green beans.
Cedar Bend Century Family Farm, N7922 US Hwy 12 & County Hwy 67, Elkhorn – It appears that this is an attended stand, and it may not be open 24/7.
Markets:
City Market – Tuesday 4-7 p.m. at the parking lot of the Cravath Lakefront Park
Matt Meiners of MY Farm has a booth with a variety of produce including corn.
Mike Murphy of Milton’s booth has corn and other produce plus eggs.
Farmers Market – Saturday 8 a.m. – noon, 301 W. Whitewater St., in the parking lot next to the Train Depot
Mike Murphy is there with corn, eggs, etc.
This is a rather small market compared with the City Market, but there are other vendors with produce, meat, etc.
Editor’s note: Apologies if we’ve inadvertently left any other area stands off the list. We will be glad to add others; please submit to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com. The image on the homepage is from the Murphy Farm Facebook page.
