John Himmelberg never thought he would be where he is today — a Washington, D.C., lawyer and Bethany Beach homeowner who represents fruit and vegetable farmers as a farm lobbyist. But when you look at the history, it was kind of in his blood. After all, Himmelberg’s grandmother ran a grocery store in Washington, D.C.
Coastal Point • Monica Fleming
John Himmelberg has used his expertise as a D.C. agricultural lobbyist to help promote the Bethany Beach Farmers’ Market.
“It was neat. We have this picture of her, with a big sign behind her that said, ‘Himmelberg’s Provisions.’ But there are no farms in Washington,” he added, laughing. “I never thought I would end up doing what I do today.”
Himmelberg was married, with two of his four children born, before he decided to change gears and go to law school.
“My first job out of college was a low-level position in the Department of Agriculture, and after a couple of years I realized I did not want to be an economist. So, I started law school at night when we had two kids, and I did general accounting and worked for the EPA in between.”
His original thought was to become a tax lawyer, because he could make a lot of money.
“I was married, had two kids, I thought it would be a good idea — tax law. But the regulations for the tax code is about 12 feet long,” he said, stretching his arms out wide and still short of 12 feet. “And the first word in the definition of income, which is written by lawyers in lawyer-speak is ‘except!’ So I just thought, ‘This is too boring — too crazy and too boring.”
While working for a firm in Washington, his boss got a co-op of dairy farmers as clients and he did all their legal work. He found that he really enjoyed it.
“I thought it was fun!” he recalled of how he first got his feet wet with the food and agriculture part of his career. “I got to deal with real agriculture, as opposed to being an economist at the Department of Agriculture. I got to meet real dairy farmers, and they were just good people.”
Himmelberg learned fast that the desk-job environment of being an economist and doing reports was not going to fly with his new line of work.
“One time I was on a farm, going out to meet with a farmer in a milk shed in a three-piece suit — cause I’m the ‘lawyer!’ he said, laughing. “It was like a costume — I was so out of place, the farmer was probably thinking, ‘What is with this guy?’”
Himmelberg has been representing fruit, vegetable, dairy and citrus farmers to Congress about farm labor and in disputes for more than 30 years now. He works on disputes through an administrative process called the Perishable Agriculture Commodities Act, or PACA. He even wrote up a law review article that set up a special trust for produce shippers so they have the right over everyone else to get paid for their product, and the farmers have protection and can get paid fairly for their crop.
“We also meet with Congressmen and their staffs to make sure that the farmers will have adequate migrant workers available to them for their season. Because, basically, if there were no foreign pickers, there would be no domestic crop,” he said of some of his lobbying work.
That lobbying experience and being a Bethany Beach homeowner was a great stepping stone to his duties as the current president of the Bethany Beach Landowner’s Association (BBLA).
“I’m really excited to be a part of it. It’s a real civic organization and we do things that are important to the people of the town. It originally organized to oppose the development of Sea Colony. And, today, we have over 20 people now on the Board of Directors and we are really active,” he said with pride. “We helped out with lobbying for beach replenishment and used some of our members to talk with Congressmen about it as protection of our community and a real safety issue.”
In addition to being president of the BBLA, Himmelberg is also president of the Bethany Beach Farmer’s Market Inc. – something he talks about with as much pride and joy as he talks of his family.
His world of lobbying for fruit and vegetable farmers came full circle a year ago, when he got a call in January 2007 from Carrie Bennett of Bennett Orchards. She had been trying to get the town council to agree to host a farmers’ market and they told her she needed more support from the community.
“When Carrie called, I was like, ‘Wow, did you call the right guy! I’m ready to go!’” said Himmelberg with enthusiasm.
After that, Bennett had a formal meeting with the council. They told her she needed a sponsor, and Himmelberg — representing BBLA — stood up.
“I said, ‘We’ll do it!’” he recalled. “Like I said, our board has grown to over 20 people and we wanted to be more active and supportive of important issues to the community. And I figured we just need support, we need a place, and we need to get the farmers.”
Lois Lipsett, a member of the Women’s Civic Club and BBLA, agreed that the Women’s Civic Club would co-sponsor.
“It goes with the history of Bethany Beach,” Himmelberg said of the farmers’ market. “In the mid-’50s there was a guy with a truck who had fruits and veggies, and he would clang a bell and people would come out and buy from him. And as far back as the early 1900s, farmers with wagons would come and bring fruits and veggies into town.”
Himmelberg, with all his background and expertise in representing farmers and growers, is the first to admit sponsoring a farmers’ market was new territory for him.
“We had no idea what we were doing. But it was kind of fun. I remember I called the lady from the Lewes Farmers’ Market and she said, ‘We have 60 volunteers doing work for us right now, and it’s February!’” We figured we would just keep it simple. We needed a location, we needed farmers and we needed to somehow get the news out to the rental population. We just wanted to give farmers a place to sell good stuff.”
Bennett got the agreement of some local growers, the town said OK, and it was decided the market would be on Sunday mornings. Local real estate agencies got on board and promoted it to vacationers. After a few more meetings and discussions about their physical location, it was decided they would be in the downtown bank parking lot.
“The church had some concerns because of the noise level, but it worked out that while the market was open, they would not allow anyone on the playground or basketball courts so as not to bother the early-morning churchgoers. And we would police that,” he recalled.
“Of course, the first day there were people out there at 11, and we said nobody would be allowed out there until 12,” he admitted. “We wanted to let the church know we were serious, so we did our part and called the police, and they came. And we were thinking ‘Great — our first day and we are in trouble. They are going to kick us out forever!’ But, it turned out the church had opened the gates because the service had ended early, so everything was fine.”
Fine, indeed. The market sold out every week, long before noon.
“I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Real farmers show up and sell a good product. We had a good group last year. We had a honey guy, a chicken guy who would bring eggs, a mushroom guy, a bread guy, and, of course, local fruits and veggies. And it wouldn’t have been possible without people like Carrie Bennett, Dan Costello, Margaret Young, and I’m sure I’m forgetting people...” he added of the many volunteers.
The group has a little more direction this year and is a bit more organized. Himmelberg donated his time to write up the paperwork and filed for the market to become an incorporated non-profit, and they are looking forward to a successful 2008.
This year, they will be out there every week from the end of June to the end of August. They plan to get a logo created and maybe have a cloth bag available for sale for customers.
“We are getting more organized, but we still have a simple goal. We just want to be a staple for the town — like the Fourth of July Parade — something that people just do.”
Unlike the hustle and bustle of Capital Hill that his grandmother used as a backdrop for her grocery business, Bethany Beach and the surrounding areas do have the best of both worlds — the quiet and the features of the resorts.
And it’s people like Himmelberg that allow residents and visitors to enjoy that fact. Local towns are close enough to the beach to be a resort destination and close enough to the farmers to know and appreciate all that they do that allow them to enjoy a fresh, locally grown commodity.
“It’s funny when I think about how I ended up where I am,” said Himmelberg. “Representing farmers isn’t as lucrative as being a tax lawyer,” he admitted, laughing, “because farmers don’t pay much. But it’s been worthwhile. They’re always good people, and I just like to hang around good people.”
For more information on the landowner’s association, visit the Web site at www.bbla.info. For more information on the Bethany Beach Farmer’s Market, visit www.bbfm.us.