Bower’s Produce still family owned, family run
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
When the patriarchs of the Bower family, Robert and Shirley Bower, died in 2014 responsibility for running the family farm and produce stands fell to their nine children – Shelley Bower, Jody Reimer, Vicky Feinstein, Bobby Bower, Beth Dums, Chuck Bower, Mert Bower, Jack Bower and Rick Bower.
Chuck, who is just about the same age as the farm at 56, is in charge of things these days, his sister Vicky said. And everyone else just helps out where and when they can. The farm also employees about a dozen extra workers during the planting and harvest.
Feinstein, 62, said there have been good years and bad years since her parents began the farm in 1959, but that’s to be expected being a business so dependent on the weather.
“You lose some crops every year, this year it was the pickles and we had to replant,” she said. “Sometimes we struggle like other farmers do.”
Feinstein said this year has been good and the added income of the stand they operate at the BP gas station on the corner of highways 20 and ES, just of Interstate 43, in East Troy helps. They also trek out to the West Allis Farmers Market three days a week to hock their wares, which has always been a good spot for them, Feinstein said.
“We do a good volume at the BP,” she said. “It’s a great location and West Allis has always been a nice market to go to. We wouldn’t do it if we weren’t making money.”
But it’s the customer loyalty and repeat business that keeps Bower’s at the top in the area. That and its reputation for high-quality, specialty produce.
Customers looking for more than the run-of-the-mill beefsteak tomatoes or green peppers flock to Bower’s this time of year. The farm planted 89 varieties of peppers this season and have a fully stocked supply of everything from sweet gypsy bells to flaming hot peppers which have signs on them warning parent to keep children from touching them because the oil from the peppers can burn skin.
Heirloom tomatoes and sweet corn fly off the stands too, as many locals know Bower’s is one of the best places around for those items.
“We come here every time we pass by,” Kathy Haupers, of Prospect Heights, Ill., said when she and her husband Mike were shopping at the farm. The Haupers also own a home in East Troy and spend a great deal of time there, Kathy said.
Feinstein said the muskmelons and watermelons were looking good this year and they were expecting to have them out in the next couple of weeks. They will continue to have a full variety of peppers, vegetables and tomatoes throughout the rest of the summer.
“We have an abundance of tomatoes for canning,” she said. “People love to can around here.”
Feinstein said the pumpkins, squash, gourds and fall decorations will be available near the end of September. They like to keep the stands open with the fall harvest until the first or second week in November if they have enough product to sell.
After that, things close down until March, when they start the seed plantings in the greenhouses.
Bower’s Produce is at W490 Highway 20, East Troy. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
For more information, call (262) 642-5244 or find them on Facebook.
