By Bob Arnold
The world’s best sweet potatoes, grown at Landreth Farms in the Vardaman area in north Central Mississippi, have arrived again and will be available at bargain basement rates for folk who savor them in Lincoln and Copiah Counties, thanks to the Wesson Lions Club.
For area sweet potato lovers, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.
For the tenth consecutive year, the Wesson-based Lions organization is importing product from the "Sweet Potato Capital of the World" and selling it at unbeatable prices to generate funds for the international and local charities the club supports.
Members of the club started selling them late this month and expect to be sold out by the Wesson Flea Market on October 19 - 520 forty-pound boxes of sweet potatoes sold for $20 per box, or fifty cents per pound. Individuals and area restaurants stocking up on the quality sweet potatoes are supporting the Lions Club's annual fundraising effort.
Landreth Farms officials say it's the loamy soil – along with timely rains – in the Vardaman area that make their potato crops sweet and special. Landreth plants sweet potatoes on 600 acres, among Mississippi farmers, who raise sweet potatoes on more than 18,400 acres across the state. The farm sells commercially to national food stores, such as Kroger and Wal-Mart, and canners, like Gerber, and produces a line of pre-wrapped sweet potatoes for microwave cooking.
The annual sweet potato sale is among three major fundraising activities of the Wesson Lions Club. The club also has an annual spring pancake breakfast and sells boiled peanuts at Co-Lin athletic events. It disburses some $10,000 every year to assist deaf and blind persons through the International Lions Club and to support local organizations and causes related to community improvement, children and youth, veterans, hospice care and address other issues and concerns.
To order sweet potatoes or for information about where to get them, call Wesson Lions’ Alton Ricks at 601-643-2466 or Hubert Greer at 601-643-2002.
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