Kansas City will see less of this City Market vendor and his elephant garlic

Craig Hansen has been selling his elephant garlic at the City Market for nearly 20 years. But with his retirement and plenty of sales closer to his home in Webb City, he won't be coming to Kansas City as often.
Early in the morning, when the sun has barely risen over the City Market, Craig Hansen of Hillside Farms is already hard at work prepping and bagging his elephant garlic when customers start beelining to his stand.

For almost two decades, he’s been driving the two and a half hours from Carthage, Missouri, to the market to sell his garlic, which can be two to three sizes larger than regular garlic.

“The best part about the market is engaging with people,” said Hansen. “People walk by my stand and if they kind of glance at my table, I'll invite them to smell the garlic. If I get them to smell it, about one out of three will buy it. About half my sales on a given day are people who I catch new and others are people that are coming back for more garlic.”