Farmers celebrate rain

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The sound of rain, a sight of umbrellas, and a taste of excitement: all signs of relief.

"People definitely squealing and yelling and hooping and hollering thinking yes, we finally got some rain, so it's definitely welcomed, people are excited to have it, that's for sure," Anderson Produce and Plants' Luke Anderson said.

"This rain, it felt so good. It really did. I'm going to to get wet and i don't care," Shade Tree Garden's Karen Anderson said.

Farmers like Luke Anderson and his family said this rain will help save them money in irrigation.

"We've been pumping for about eight hours a day for the last ten weeks so this is welcomed rain for sure," Anderson said.

"They were just dying. They weren't going to make it. So this outta help," Farmer Ernie Biltz said.

Gardener Karen Anderson said sales have been extremely low because people don't have enough time to take care of a plant in these conditions.

"Once it starts drying up, you're pretty much done until we get a rain like this, and this is going to be helpful, really helpful," Anderson said.

They said Saturday's rainfall will extend the produce season.

"Some of our second and third plantings will be able to happen. They'll come up out of the ground," Anderson said.

However, it isn't enough to fix the damage done.

"We would need a couple couple more days of this, long days of this type of rain to really make a difference," Anderson said.

"We need some rain every week now to get us out of a deficit that we are in," Biltz said.

It was a day of celebration for these folks whose livelihoods depend on this rain.

They keep wishing for more, in hopes of turning the season around.

The Farmers' Market is every Saturday in downtown Terre Haute until noon.

They're also starting up a Farmers' Market on Tuesdays from 4 to 7 in northern Terre Haute near Union Hospital.