COEUR d'ALENE - Farmers love the rain - when they're growing the food. Not so much when they're trying to sell it in an open air market.

"I hope it makes people hungry," said Gordon Stanley, with Good Shepherd Lamb Co. from Bonners Ferry, one of the few vendors who bothered to come out on a drizzly afternoon for the Downtown Farmers Market on Wednesday afternoon.

For two of the three weeks since the market opened, rain greeted the sellers and shoppers at the two-block market north and south of Sherman Avenue on Fifth Street.

"Last week wasn't that bad," Stanley said. "It was slow, but better than we expected."

His freshly grilled lamb kebabs, smokies and burgers scented the air, and did bring out a few shoppers who lucked out and made it to the market when the rain slowed.

"The people who are here are selling good things," Rich Kohles said. "We need to buy our food locally."

With only four vendors on the north block, and a half dozen on the south, the turnout was well below normal. Art Boyman, who sells apple crisp until the fresh organic fruit from Tonnemaker Hill Farms is available, expected about half the 30 to 40 vendors after last week's downpour was followed by another wet day.

But like many who did come out to try to sell their goods, he was upbeat.

"It was good last week," he said. "I sold everything I had."

The first market was packed with vendors and buyers, said Dale Young, owner of The Fish Folks.

"It slowed down, for sure," he said. "Most people just want to stay home."

Yet, he is optimistic the weather will improve in coming weeks.

"Pretty soon it will be too hot," he said.

Joe Kenney, with Farmer Jo from Othello, Wash., came out with asparagus and dried cherries.

"It's slow, but there are a lot of repeat customers," he said.

He also knows they'll come back for markets later in the year for fresh bing and Rainier cherries and cider pressed on site.

Pulling a wagon filled with her three boys, Kirsten Pomerantz made one of her frequent trips to the market.

"I don't know if they depend on me," she said, but she does come as often as the boys' activities allow. "We live downtown. I bought plants and started my garden. Kettle corn was on the menu today. I love having (the market) downtown."

Most vendors at least had canopies to keep them dry, but Tom Tobin, selling Tomahawk Beef Jerky for his son, Jeffery, who owns the Huetter operation, settled for a hooded jacket and kept the product in a plastic tub, although the paper informational materials and business cards curled up in the rain.

"I should have brought a canopy," he said.

Hot or cold, wet or dry, the market is a pleasant place to be, said David Patterson, owner of Java on Sherman. He was selling Bumper Crop coffee beans by the pound and by the brewed cup, and did not mind the weather a bit.

"It is fun even on days like this," he said. "It is always a good experience, plus I get the pick of the crop. This is the best time to come down."

In the long run, the rain will probably make for a good season.

"We needed the rain," Stanley said. "The pastures are drying out."

The downtown market is 4-7 p.m. every Wednesday, and a Sunday market will begin this weekend in the park at Sherman and Sixth.