By ROD KING

For the Northwest News

Huntertown Gardens opened last month for its 86th season of selling luscious fresh produce, garden seeds, mouth-watering bakery goods, sumptuous cheeses, specialty canned goods, beautiful flowers and a wall full of candy.

The 6,000-square-foot market is located between Huntertown and LaOtto on Old State Road 3 at the intersection of 14 (DeKalb) County Road 70, the first road north of the Allen County line. The market got its start eight-and-a-half decades ago from a bushel basket of potatoes placed next to the road with a for sale sign in Huntertown. Joella Decker placed it there to see if she could generate some sales. It did and she and her husband, Charles, grew that meager start into a four-acre truck garden that became a household word throughout the area. He kept it going into the 1980s after she died in 1977.

When Charles passed the reins of the operation on in 1983 to their son, Tom, and his wife, Sharon, the new owners relocated it in LaOtto. They expanded their market to include all of northeast Indiana, southern Michigan and western Ohio. The new store is located smack dab between Huntertown and LaOtto.

The present management team is Tom and Sharon’s three daughters: Theresa Shultz, president; Rose Hathaway, secretary; and Elizabeth Decker, treasurer. Their mom, who is still very active in the business, is CEO.

“We were all born in Huntertown and worked on our grandparents’ truck farm,” said Rose. “When Mom and Dad opened the place in LaOtto, we all helped out there and when we moved here and they decided to step back, we took over. Sometimes we got to go with Dad to pick up produce from a supplier and our children got to go with him, too. That was incredibly special for us.”

“Everything is trucked it,” she said. “During season we have five loads a week coming from southern Indiana, Florida, California, Ohio and Michigan. Some of our suppliers have been with us for 45 years. We keep in close touch with them and visit their operations when we can.

“We see each other or talk to each other every day during the season and often on the off season between the end of November and the middle of March. Each of us has our own specific area of responsibility and expertise. Working with family full time is not easy, but it is the most rewarding work. We actually get along well and don’t get tired of each other’s company. We couldn’t see ourselves doing anything else.”

During the winter months Theresa drives bus for Northwest Allen County Schools, Rose works at a Huntertown factory and Elizabeth is in charge of getting the store ready for the next season.