Lyn Benn grinned widely as she clutched a white plastic bag, bursting at its seams, with a thick cluster of beet greens peeking out the top.

“These are my veggies for the week,” said the Kwantlen Polytechnic University employee, who stopped by the inaugural Langley Community Farmers Market in the university’s parking lot on Wednesday afternoon.

She doesn’t work at the Langley campus, but Benn made a point of coming to pick up organic vegetables, including beets and peas, as well as to look for organic grains and eggs.

“I made a special trip because you can’t get much fresher,” said Benn, who is originally from Australia. “This is how I’m used to buying things in a country with lots of sunshine.

“It’s about supporting the local community and eating locally — the 100-mile diet — and I think people are getting the message.”

Rosie and Marlene, both from Langley, also came in search of local fresh, organic produce.

“We’re both organic shoppers and so far, this is the best market we’ve been to,” the women said, before heading off to check out the offerings at the next stall.

“And we really like the times,” one of the women called over her shoulder as she hurried away.

The weekly market will take place every Wednesday, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. until October.

There were a number of reasons the event’s organizing committee decided to hold the market at mid-week.

“Farmers are already going to well-established markets on the weekends,” said Angie Quaale, one of the organizers.

And the location (just off Glover Road) is central, which works well for people on their way home from work, she added.

The mid-week schedule has worked out well for a group of organic farmers who shared a tent at Wednesday’s market. The farms, based in Langley and Abbotsford, grow for weekend markets, too. But having an opportunity to sell vegetables harvested early in the week when they are fresh from the soil, has been a boon, said Olera Farm’s Jana Tvrdon, as she arranged produce in one of her displays.

“It works well with our harvest rotation.”

Tvrdon was also impressed by the turnout on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s been great for a first market. We’re very happy with whoever is putting the word out,” she said.

In all, 32 vendors, hailing from Agassiz to Vancouver, set up shop under a rainbow of coloured tents, which provided a bit of insurance against threatening steel-grey skies. They were selling not only fresh vegetables, but freshly baked bread, honey, preserves, handbags, cut flowers and orchids, too.

There is room in the lot outside the university’s theatre, for 50 booths and the market’s offerings will change as different fruits and vegetables come into season, said Quaale. “We’ll have different vendors every week. People can come every week and not see the same things.”

The criteria for selling at the market is simple, said Quaale: “Make it, bake it or grow it.”

So far, that seems to be the right formula for shoppers.

“The turnout has been phenomenal and the weather has held. I couldn’t be happier,” Quaale said.

To anyone thinking about checking out the market in the coming weeks, Quaale had a valuable piece of advice.

“Come early,” she said, “because there is a limited supply and stuff sells out early.”