Thursday Clinton farm market was a success, its organizers report
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Sarah Millet of Clinton visits the Heaven’s Leaven booth featuring fresh-baked bread products during last Thursday’s Clinton Farmers Market in the city parking lot on North Main Street. Sitting are, from left, booth operator Bonnie Templeton, Percival Templeton, 3 months, and Fern Chandler, 11. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Hill View Farm’s mobile market bus was on hand for last Thursday’s Clinton Farmers Market, offering fresh produce. Seated are, from left, Koen Clowers, 8, Shelby Clowers, and Emmett Clowers, 10. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Two food trucks are lined up at the Thursday Clinton Farmers Market in the new city parking lot last week. - G. Chambers Williams III
There were 21 vendors at last week’s first Thursday edition of the new Clinton Farmers Market, and while the organizers had hoped for better customer turnout, they were pleased with it overall, they said, and will do it again next month.
It was also the first time the market was held at the new city parking lot on North Main Street at North Hicks Street, rather than its previous location at the Anderson County Fairgrounds.
“With school starting last week, people were a bit busy, so we didn’t see quite the community participation we wanted,” said Matthew Garafolo, one of the organizers. “But we had several vendors who sold out of their products, so it went pretty well.”
The market will be back at the fairgrounds, along North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23, Garafolo said.
It will return to the downtown parking lot from 4-7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, he said, and then back to the fairgrounds again from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Although the dates have not been set yet, Garafolo expects to hold markets on both sites in October, as well, “as long as the weather holds up,” he said. That will be the last of the outdoor markets for the season.
But Garafolo said the organizers are working with the city to set up a winter market possibly indoors at the Clinton Community Center.
“That still depends on our talks with the city, so we don’t have anything to announce about dates and times yet,” he said.
Besides Hill View Farm’s “produce bus,” which brought the only produce to last Thursday’s market, there were vendors with locally raised pork, beef and lamb; fresh baked goods and sweets; embroidered shirts and other non-food goods; handcrafted art; locally made hot sauces and spices; tallow products, and more.
There also was a coffee truck and a shaved-ice truck on hand.
Garafolo, a Clinton sheep farmer, and his partner, Maggie Hanso, created the market this year after the Clinton Farmers Market operators from the previous three years decided not to return this year.
The inaugural session was held on Saturday, May 24, also at the fairgrounds.
