Farmers market may outgrow current plotBy Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Darrell Blackwelder warned Salisbury City Council last week that if the Salisbury-Rowan Farmers Market continues to grow as it has over the past four years, it may need a larger, more permanent location.
“Don’t apologize for that,” Councilman Bill Burgin told Blackwelder. “That’s exactly what the council wanted to happen.”
The outdoor Farmers Market, which is open from mid April through October, currently resides on city-owned property at the corner of South Main and East Bank streets.
The market covers a portion of a parking lot that used to serve a fitness club.
It features locally grown produce, fresh meat, eggs, baked goods, flowers, homemade ice cream, handcrafts and more.
Last year, Market Manager Harry Agner said, the market was open 57 days and included 27 vendors.
Open Wednesdays and Saturday, the market had a $400,000 economic impact over those 57 days, Agner said.
The market served 600 to 800 people a day in its heaviest days from June to August.
Blackwelder said the market continues efforts to attract more vendors and will again be accepting WIC (Women, Infants and Children) vouchers, senior vouchers and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) food stamps.
“I don’t think there’s another market in the state that accepts all three,” said Blackwelder, an agricultural agent in charge of horticulture for the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. He is a liaison to the Farmers Market.
The 2009 Salisbury-Rowan Farmer’s Market will again be at South Main and East Bank streets.