Hawkins' Produce stand on Knowles Avenue in Kensington opened for the season on Good Friday, like it does every year, but this time something is different. James Hawkins, the man who ran the stand for 21 years, isn't there. He died of a heart attack while on his lunch break Feb. 21. He was 62. Hawkins' son Joe and stepson Leroy Barton Jr. now run the stand. They have worked with their father at the stand for years. "There was no question in my mind that we would keep the store open,
"Barton said. "We've been living off the reputation of good produce for 21 years".
The roadside stand has become a fixture in Kensington, and residents can usually tell what time of year it is by the type of fresh produce on its shelves. Hawkins' sells fresh flowers when the stand opens in the spring, and sweet corn and tomatoes in the summer. When the leaves turn brown, the apples arrive straight from the orchards. The stand sells turkeys at Thanksgiving, oysters and shrimp in the summer, and all varieties of fruits and vegetables throughout the year. Families walk through the lot behind the store in October and choose a pumpkin to carve into a jack-o'-lantern. The same families return to buy a Christmas tree before the stand shuts down for the winter on Dec. 23. Hawkins, who family members affectionately call "Big Jim," grew up in Boyds, and left school in the 10th grade to form a landscaping company with his brother, Harry.
According to Barton, James Hawkins stored mulch on the present site of the Knowles Avenue stand. His wife Ann, who he married in 1960, decided to make some extra money by selling a few items by the roadside as her husband labored. She pulled in the lot one day in 1979 with 10 jugs of homemade apple cider. By the end of the day, the jugs were gone and she had made a small profit, Barton said. James Hawkins built a small stand so she could sell her goods, and the roadside stand became Hawkins' Produce. James later abandoned the landscaping company to run the stand full time. He was not from a farming background, and buying the quality of produce that he wanted was often a process of trial and error, Barton said. He would return to the distributor any produce not up to his standards.
Frustrated with sporadic quality and high prices, Hawkins began farming his own produce in 1991. The farm is run by the family and continues to supply much of the stand's produce, Barton said. He would not say where in Montgomery County the farm is located. "Hawkins' Produce has] been there for ever and ever," said Wanda Reedy of Kensington, who saw Hawkins almost daily as the manager of the Exxon where Hawkins died a few hundred feet from his stand. Hawkins knew his customers by name, by many accounts, and would wave to them if he saw them on the street.
"Mr. Hawkins always made the community family, too," said Victoria Barton of Monrovia, Hawkins' stepdaughter-in-law. "He was someone who made you feel as if you were in a small town," said Pam McLeod of Kensington, one of his customers. Hawkins is survived by a brother, Paul Hawkins of Gaithersburg; sons Joe Hawkins of Smithsburg, Md., and James Hawkins Jr. of Rockville; and stepson Leroy Barton Jr. of Monrovia.
"Barton said. "We've been living off the reputation of good produce for 21 years".
The roadside stand has become a fixture in Kensington, and residents can usually tell what time of year it is by the type of fresh produce on its shelves. Hawkins' sells fresh flowers when the stand opens in the spring, and sweet corn and tomatoes in the summer. When the leaves turn brown, the apples arrive straight from the orchards. The stand sells turkeys at Thanksgiving, oysters and shrimp in the summer, and all varieties of fruits and vegetables throughout the year. Families walk through the lot behind the store in October and choose a pumpkin to carve into a jack-o'-lantern. The same families return to buy a Christmas tree before the stand shuts down for the winter on Dec. 23. Hawkins, who family members affectionately call "Big Jim," grew up in Boyds, and left school in the 10th grade to form a landscaping company with his brother, Harry.
According to Barton, James Hawkins stored mulch on the present site of the Knowles Avenue stand. His wife Ann, who he married in 1960, decided to make some extra money by selling a few items by the roadside as her husband labored. She pulled in the lot one day in 1979 with 10 jugs of homemade apple cider. By the end of the day, the jugs were gone and she had made a small profit, Barton said. James Hawkins built a small stand so she could sell her goods, and the roadside stand became Hawkins' Produce. James later abandoned the landscaping company to run the stand full time. He was not from a farming background, and buying the quality of produce that he wanted was often a process of trial and error, Barton said. He would return to the distributor any produce not up to his standards.
Frustrated with sporadic quality and high prices, Hawkins began farming his own produce in 1991. The farm is run by the family and continues to supply much of the stand's produce, Barton said. He would not say where in Montgomery County the farm is located. "Hawkins' Produce has] been there for ever and ever," said Wanda Reedy of Kensington, who saw Hawkins almost daily as the manager of the Exxon where Hawkins died a few hundred feet from his stand. Hawkins knew his customers by name, by many accounts, and would wave to them if he saw them on the street.
"Mr. Hawkins always made the community family, too," said Victoria Barton of Monrovia, Hawkins' stepdaughter-in-law. "He was someone who made you feel as if you were in a small town," said Pam McLeod of Kensington, one of his customers. Hawkins is survived by a brother, Paul Hawkins of Gaithersburg; sons Joe Hawkins of Smithsburg, Md., and James Hawkins Jr. of Rockville; and stepson Leroy Barton Jr. of Monrovia.