ABOVE Diana Closs completes a transaction with Doris Detert for a bag full of corn at the Detert’s stand in the Bowlmor parking lot in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT – For the Detert family, July and August have been corn-selling season going back 30 years.

They started downtown, selling out of a pickup bed at a farmers’ market on Third Street. After a few years, they struck an agreement with Bowlmor to sell in their parking lot. Over 20 years later, that’s where they sell today.

Co-owner Leo Detert said they harvest corn daily to bring to their location.

“We have relatives and a good friend that helps pick every day,” he said. “It’s about three to four people picking. We use a bobcat that we have a bucket on. With each row, they throw it into the bucket, and when the bucket is full, we dump it [into the trailer].”

When the corn is ready, the Deterts sell every single day. Thankfully, this year the corn has been ready and strong.

“[Grow season] was actually very good,” Detert said. “The corn was being very productive. It’s not always that way, of course, but it’s been good this year.”

Planting started in April, sales began July 14, and Detert said they will only be open for a few more days. Only two or three days were missed due to rain making the fields too muddy. Detert said the demand has been very good throughout the past two months.

Not much has changed about the stand itself, a pull-behind trailer with a roof made of pipes that Detert made himself, and a covering to keep the corn out of the rain.

What has changed is the corn sold. This year, the Deterts sold five different corn varieties grown on their five acres: Quick Trip, Matriarch, No Name and two numbered, unnamed corn varieties. Co-owner Doris Detert said the variety has been a hit with customers.

“They love change,” she said. “That’s a lot of the reason why we do different ones, because everybody’s taste buds are different.”

Of those five varieties, four of them are new this year and have gone over well, with Quick Trip being the most popular. The only returning variety from 2024 is No Name, which started off as corn seed number eight, but was given the name ‘No Name’ when they decided to bring it back this year.

Customer feedback is a big tell in what will stay and what will be rotated out.

“We usually tell them to come back and tell us if they like it or if they don’t like it,” Doris Detert said. “We want to hear both. We had Quick Trip, that went over quite well, so we are definitely going to bring that back next year.”

There are also benefits for the farming side of the operation. Each variety has different growth periods, so the Deterts are able to strategically plant each variety to maximize yield and the length of selling season while also making their work more efficient.

While there was plenty of turnover from last year to now, Leo Detert said next year will probably consist of the same varieties as this year.

As for the future, Leo Detert said they don’t have a definite plan for how long they’ll continue to grow and sell.

“I can’t give an answer of ‘I’m going to do it 10 years’ or ‘One year’,” he said. “It all depends on our health.”

For the decades they have been around and provided corn for the Fairmont area, Leo Detert said they are thankful for the continued support they’ve received from new and returning customers.

“For the comments that we have gotten, the people that thank us for growing corn and being here every year. It’s very much appreciated that they say that, and we’ve heard that quite a bit,” he said.