If you are in the Urasa area of Minamiuonuma and looking for a reasonably priced place to pick up fruit, vegetables, and other locally produced foods, the JA Yairo Agri Park is a great place to check out. Located in walking distance from Urasa Station, the items for sale here are all grown by local farmers and there is a wide range of ultra-fresh goodies on the shelves year round.
It's not just fruits and veggies on offer here, by any stretch. There are bags of locally grown koshihikari rice, other rice products like senbei crackers, and even local wines and honey. They also stock small tubs of gelato from the nearby Gelato Yummy store, and I highly recommend giving some of their flavors a try.
The venue is also the site of the annual Yairo Watermelon Festival, where visitors can indulge in all they can eat watermelon for the bargain price of ¥ 500 per adult, and only ¥ 300 for children. As well as the all-you-can-eat watermelon, there are also watermelons of various sizes that you can purchase to take away with you – and they're significantly cheaper than usual retail prices. The festival typically runs from the late July until early August timeframe.
If you do plan on stopping by, keep in mind that the opening hours differ depending on the time of year. From May until November they open from 9 am until 5 pm, but from November until the end of March the hours shorten to 10 am until 5 pm.
