Gone to market
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 9, 2018 5:50 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Wayne County Extension Service Director Kevin Johnson walks through the building that will house the new farmers market. A vendor interest meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 12, in the Farm Bureau room of the Wayne County Cooperative Extension Office in the Maxwell Center.
"I am ready to get some tables and start selling some product," Wayne County Extension Service Director Kevin Johnson said Thursday afternoon as he walked around the building that will house the new Farm Credit Farmers Market
Located behind the Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center, 3114 Wayne Memorial Drive, the building is now under construction.
An opening date has not yet determined, but Johnson is hopeful that will happen by mid-May.
Meanwhile, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension Service is recruiting potential vendors for the market.
A vendor interest meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 12, in the Farm Bureau room of the Extension office in the Maxwell Center.
The meeting will include an update on the building's progress, vision for the market, review of rules and an opportunity for potential vendors to ask questions.
"We are trying to look for potential vendors -- anybody who may be interested in coming and selling their products here," Johnson said. "We've already had a list of people who were interested. We want to make it available to anybody who may want to take advantage of this opportunity.
"We have had a list since we have been talking about this for a couple of years. Some of them have already started asking and want to be part of it."
Rules, based on the State Farmers Market in Raleigh and other local markets, have been sent out, but nothing yet has been set in stone, Johnson said.
Market rules will require that vendors grow and/or raise a minimum of 50 percent of sellable items.
Sellable items include vegetables, fruits, eggs, meats, cut flowers, bedding plants and transplants, local honey and dairy products.
The plan is to charge vendors a $25 annual fee and then probably $5 a day, he said.
"We are not trying to make money on this at all," Johnson said. "We are looking at this as an opportunity for local growers to be able to move their product. We are also looking at this as a nice central location where our citizens can come and buy local.
"It is twofold here, we want to provide a service for our growers but also to provide fresh local foods for our citizens."
Johnson said he and Extension agent Jessica Strickland will oversee operation of the market.
However, the plan is to hire a part-time market manager to be at the site to open up, and in case anyone needs anything.
That person also will help out maintaining the nearby greenhouse.
Tentative plans call for the market to be open Tuesday and Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
But the dates might have to be tweaked as the market gets established, Johnson said.
It will be a seasonal market, probably operating from April through October, possibly with a Christmas season, he said.
That, too, is still open for discussion and tweaking, he said.
For example, the Master Gardeners plant sale will be held later this month so the building will not ready in time to host it.
But Johnson said he sees the facility as a great location for the sale next year.
"We can highlight certain products," Johnson said. "We could have like a strawberry day, watermelon day, sweet corn day. We could have a honey day. We can really highlight some local products."
There could even be classes such as on how to cook sweet corn, or snacks with watermelon, Johnson said.
"We can make it more than just come and buy product," he said. "It can be educational, too."
Each long side of the building has five garage doors.
"Our idea is that some people might not need the whole garage door area," Johnson said. "We could theoretically get as many as 20 people in there. We do know that we have some vendors interested in a whole area.
"Even though there are 10 potential full booths, we know some people won't need that much space so there will be some possibilities to share."
Some people who have expressed an interest also sell at the State Farmers Market.
"They are not large growers," Johnson said. "We have had people who just grow sweet corn who have expressed interest in maybe selling here. They may want a both but for just once a week for a couple of weeks.
"The same might be true for strawberries. We are going to miss the strawberry season this year probably. We may catch the tail end of it. So it is not just for commercial guys."
Johnson said he has some growers who are interested in putting in an acre of sweet corn or an acre of watermelons and just trying to sell a little bit at the market.
So it's not necessarily somebody who makes a living doing it, he said.
"We just don't want this to turn into a craft market or a flea market," Johnson said. "We want to make sure that we are providing an opportunity to move local fresh products for our farmers and for our citizens."
Potential vendors can obtain a list of market rules, a vendor application or register for the meeting by contacting the Wayne County Cooperative Extension Office or calling 919-731-1520.