Topeka residents Stan and Carla Soper shop for fresh lettuce on the opening day of the Downtown Lawrence Farmers' Market in 2008. They brought along their two chihuahua dogs Millie, left, and Cassie.

James Snow worked until dark picking as much lettuce and spinach as he could Friday night.

But the six coolers full of greens packed into the back of his truck weren’t enough to satisfy the shoppers at the Lawrence Farmers’ Market on Saturday morning.

With an hour and half left before closing, the Eudora farmer and his wife Rebecca had about a half dozen heads of lettuce left for sale. All the spinach was gone.

“It’s been a good day, but we’re going to have some disappointed customers in about 30 minutes,” Snow said.

Since the second week of April, farmers have been showing up to the Saturday market in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

But this Saturday was the official grand opening, which doubled or tripled the crowd, Snow said.

The Snows weren’t the only ones who sold out. The more than 200 pounds of asparagus brought by Pendleton’s Country Market was gone before 9 a.m. And about an hour later, they ran out of rhubarb.

In the next booth over, Kevin Irick’s 200 pounds of tomatoes, which he grew in a hot house over the spring, had been whittled down to about five pounds.

“The crowd’s been excellent,” Irick said.

The fresh produce, meats and baked goods were welcomed in return by many Lawrence residents.

“I love it,” said Jennifer Harrell, a farmer’s market regular who had a bag full of egg cartons she was returning to a local farmer and another bag with greens and plants.

More than 50 vendors set up shop Saturday morning. Many of them were decade-old regulars. However, a few were new.

Among them were cheese-makers Kathy Landers and Bill James with Landeria Farms.

The two were selling artisan cheese made from their herd of 100 goats on a farm near De Soto.

They milk the goats, make the cheese and then store it in an underground aging cave.

“It’s not like the grocery store cheese. There’s a lot more flavor,” Landers said.

Saturday was Landers’ first farmers’ market venture. Although she has been making cheese since the 1970s, she was waiting on a license before going to market.

“We’re looking to sell directly to the people. To keep it simple and natural,” she said.