New customers are hitting up the Crescent City Farmers Market as the lettuce-linked cyclosporiasis continues to churn headlines and bellies.

Why it matters: The outbreak is bad for Big Lettuce, but might turn out to be pretty good for local farmers as both households and commercial businesses rush to find safer sources for their leafy greens.

The big picture: Cyclosporiasis is the diarrhea-inducing illness that's been linked in part to contaminated lettuce. More on that below.

What they're saying: Renée Blanchard, the market manager for Market Umbrella, which runs the Crescent City Farmers Market, says one of its regulars, Local Lettuce Heads, can barely keep up with demand at the markets.

• "We are introducing people to the farmers so they ... know exactly what they're getting," Blanchard says, "which is something we can't know for sure when we go to a big box store."

Yes, but: The big stores are calling on many of the same local farmers, which is squeezing local supply, too.

• "The calls we've been getting are insane," says Natalie Jones, who runs Faust Farms Hydroponics in Amite. "There's definitely been an uptick in sales or an uptick in additional people wanting to do business with us."
• Jones, who supplies Rouses Markets, has focused on making sure her regular customers are taken care of, which is especially challenging because the lettuce scare came at the hottest part of the year for south Louisiana.

State of play: "I'm at the end of my lettuce season," she says.

• Customers won't have a hard time finding Louisiana-grown lettuce this week, she and Blanchard say, but it'll be what's left at the end of the season.
• Jones will then start seeding for the fall season, but it'll take about six weeks before fall lettuces arrive.

The bottom line: "Have a little bit of patience for our local farmers," Blanchard advises, "who are really working overtime to meet a newer demand in a less than ideal weather situation."

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Louisiana health officials have tracked 125 cyclosporiasis cases in the state so far this year, with six hospitalizations, according to the latest numbers.

Why it matters: That's past historical norms, officials have said, but still well below how the outbreak is tracking in the hardest-hit states.

The big picture: Two people in Michigan died in connection with cyclospora, health officials there said this week. Both had underlying health conditions.

• The state has been at the center of the summer outbreak, Axios' Herb Scribner reports.

Zoom in: Of Louisiana's 125 cases, eight were reported in Orleans Parish and 18 in Jefferson Parish.

• East Baton Rouge has reported the most so far at 25 cases.

Flashback: Despite the CDC so far counting more than 11,000 cases in the current cyclospora outbreak, the food-borne illness hasn't yet reached the scope of the worst in U.S. history.

Meanwhile: Louisiana officials are also tracking a possible salmonella contamination in eggs.

• There's an active recall of nearly 1.6 million eggs, the Louisiana Department of Health says, including from Super 1 Foods. Full list.

Go deeper: How to lower your infection risk

🚲 A BMX course in the bayou near Jean Lafitte? Sick. Destrehan-native Broc Raiford designed and rode the one-time-only course while here for the X Games last month. (Watch on YouTube)

• X Games organizers also donated one of the professional-level ramps used for the event to New Orleans skate park Parasite. (Fox 8)

🚀 As speculation over a Southwest Louisiana SpaceX port continues, the federal government could loosen environmental requirements for private space companies. (Politico)

🗳️ Col. Robert Hodges, the New Orleans native who retired as head of the Louisiana State Police, is running for St. Tammany sheriff. (WDSU)

• Qualifying for November elections ends Friday.

🏊 Jefferson Parish has secured $30 million of the estimated $75 million needed to transform the shuttered Hope Haven campus into a fitness facility and competitive swimming venue. The project would include an Olympic-sized pool with space for 1,500 spectators. (WWL)

🪑 The HNOC's 18th annual New Orleans Antiques Forum explores faith, spirit and tradition. It starts Friday. (Details)

🧑‍🍳 Celebrate Chef Frank Brigtsen's new cookbook, "Color of Flavor," during a launch party Saturday. (Register)

🧑‍🔬 Kids can build their own hovercrafts in a STEM NOLA workshop Saturday. (Details)

💃🏾 Bust out your crimson. The Red Dress Run, a charity event, is back Saturday morning. (Details)

🪶 There's a party celebrating a new mural honoring New Orleans' Mardi Gras Indians at the corner of Oak and Dublin streets on Saturday evening. (Details)

🐴 The rodeo's in town. The SERA Invitational is at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday. (Tickets)