FAIRHOPE, Alabama— Four days a week, on the corner of Church Street and Fairhope Avenue, Barbara Davis parks her Chevy truck and sells produce. But Barbara is no ordinary street vendor. She is known simply as “The Tomato Lady” and has been selling tomatoes in Fairhope for 40 years now.

She married into the produce business but later divorced. She says she liked working in Fairhope enough to stick around. Aside from the namesake tomatoes, Davis sells blueberries, peaches, potatoes, eggplants, squash, cucumbers and whatever else is in season she can get her hands on.

“I like (selling produce) better than anything else I’ve done, which isn’t a whole lot. After 40 years I haven’t had much time,” Davis said with a laugh. “I started this, and I thought for a while—I thought this wasn’t going to be any good, you know? I’d have to quit and find something else.”

Davis says after 15 years of selling produce she told one of her customers she’d need to find a new job—one with “insurance, benefits, and all that good stuff.”

“One of my customers looked at me and said ‘you don’t need any of that,’” said Davis. “‘If anything happens to you, Fairhope will be there.’ In 2010 I had to have my knee surgery, and they gave me a benefit, and they took care of everything.”

Just two years ago the city decided to call Aug. 12, 2010, “Barbara Davis Day,” and last year Davis told The Fairhope Courier, “We solve the problems of the world here every morning.”

Bill Baldwin, owner of Fairhope Hardware, knows how special Davis is to Fairhope.

“She’s become part of the downtown scene,” Baldwin said. “People have come to respect the type of food they get from her. She always does a good job.”

Baldwin said she’s even more than just part of the downtown scene.

“I think—as far as I’m concerned—if I don’t get them from her it just doesn’t taste right,” he said. “She’s become part of the taste buds.”

Baldwin says Davis gives service like nowhere else.

“You don’t get bad fruit from her,” he said. “She sorts through it, and before she puts it out to make sure that none of it’s bad.”

Davis has been selling produce in Fairhope for four decades this year and says she has no plans of leaving any time soon.

“I enjoy people,” says Davis. “I like people a whole lot.”

One customer bought a small container of tomatoes, but the smallest bill she had was a $20. She apologized to Davis.

“We don’t apologize for having too much money,” Davis replied quickly.

After 40 years in a small town like Fairhope, Davis knows most of her customers. She asks, “How’s your mama?” or “How’s your granddaddy?” depending on the person she’s talking to. After 40 years, she’s gotten to know more than one generation of local families. And she’s seen some local children grow up. 

Davis knows several customers by heart; she knows what they usually buy and how often they buy. One thing most of her customers appreciate most about her is her honesty. Baldwin says she’ll never sell a bad fruit.

“She’s always been very honest with people, and she wants—just like most businesses—she wants her customers to be satisfied,” said Baldwin. “When it comes to that, she shares her responsibility all the way.”

This one-woman show of joking, hugging and selling produce is a show the people of Fairhope have come to love.

Judy Oxford knows how big of a part Davis is in Fairhope, so she decided to paint a portrait.

“I took her photo with my iPhone one day when I was passing through,” Oxford said via email. “The ‘Tomato Lady’ is so much a part of Fairhope. I just had to paint her.”

Davis has thought about writing a book about her experiences working in Fairhope.

“I said I’m going to write a book about people in Fairhope, and they said ‘please don’t. We don’t need our dirty laundry aired all over the place,” Davis said, laughing. “After 40 years, that’s a lot of dirty laundry.”