Farm frenzy: Fresno State campus-grown corn goes on sale

Customers lined up early Friday to get the first Fresno State campus-grown sweet corn of the season.

The line was about 200 people long — some of whom had been waiting since as early as 6 a.m. — when it went on sale at the Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market at 8 a.m.

After 10 hours of selling Friday, the market reported it sold 23,627 yellow ears on the first day. The white corn sold out in two hours, 4,391 ears. A total of about 60 bins were emptied.

Yellow and white sweet varieties will continue to be available, but supplies are expected to move fast daily, said Nina Palomino, Gibson Farm Market manager. The price is 33 cents an ear.

To help alleviate the expected rush, only about 10 customers will be allowed inside the store at a time. An organic, bi-color variety will be available in August.

In 2014, nearly 624,000 ears were sold at the Gibson Farm Market, including 9,900 the first day when 22 bins of sweet corn were sold out within 90 minutes.

The market is located at 5368 N. Chestnut Ave.

Also coming up is the Gibson Farm Market’s ninth annual Fresno State Farm Festival on July 11. The event will feature corn and other summer products, with free samples in the morning and a wine tasting in the afternoon.

The market’s summer hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.

This story was originally published May 29, 2015 at 8:55 AM with the headline "Farm frenzy: Fresno State campus-grown corn goes on sale."