'We all love corn': Walworth County couple to celebrate 70 years together, 60 with farm stand
WALWORTH COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) – For the Pearce family happiness is a fresh ear of corn.
"We grow what we know best," Mary Ann Pearce said.
For 60 years, Pearce's Farm Stand has been the Walworth County hot spot for fresh produce with every vegetable under the sun, grown by a family of farmers.
"I eat corn every day. I love corn, we all love corn," Robert Pearce said.
Before the sprawling white building on W5740 N Walworth Road was built, there was a truly simple farm stand in its place, started by the children of Mary Ann and Robert Pearce.
"Bob said they could pick sweet corn out of the field and sell it because it wouldn't make any difference out of acres of corn," Mary Ann explained. "On the picnic table, they put corn and sold it for 35 cents a dozen, three dozen for a dollar. Pretty soon we’re growing a few extra watermelons or a few extra tomatoes and then you see what happened."
The now great-grandparents met in the 1950s, unaware their union would cultivate generations of farmers.
"I knew she was the one when I saw her," Robert said. "I got close to her and asked her for a date Saturday night and she said yes and that was the start of everything."
The two were married on June 18, 1955. Next year they will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
"I don’t see how it's possible. It isn't in my head, I know that. It just happened," Mary Ann said.
While the couple is still at the stand almost every single day, their grandson Bob Pearce is now running it.
"One of the biggest questions always is 'When is Pearce's going to open?'" Bob told CBS 58.
"Growing up here was always busy, always something to do, just a wonderful experience. I love being here every day. I love seeing the produce come in and out. From the day we put the seeds in the ground to the day we harvest, it's just wonderful. It's a blessing seeing everything come through here."
Pearce transformed the stand from a humble shop to a full-blown, open-air market after taking over in 2013.
"It’s a lot of fun. Always looking to tweak things a little bit just to make it a little more efficient but to also show grandma and grandpa and have them be proud of everything we do here and to see the excitement coming from them and what we've grown into over the years," he said.
Open until Halloween, the stand is not just a place for people to pick up produce. It also has family fun activities like jumping barrels and a huge corn maze.
"We've been having a corn maze for about 15 years. We just started to really get into it in the last 5. This year we partnered with Peanuts, 75th anniversary," Pearce explained. "It's hard to believe you can have a work of art like that in a cornfield, it's really quite amazing."
With fresh corn for the husking, rows of produce, homemade treats and so much more, the farm stand is a testament to the hard work of Robert and Mary Ann, who have no plans to slow down anytime soon.
"It's a lifetime opportunity. Not many people can say that they still have their 90-year-old grandfather around. It's really fun working with them," Pearce said. "It can be challenging at times; you know you can't teach an old dog new tricks always but it's fun. It's wonderful being able to do."