Just two weeks into the new season and already the Roan Mountain Farmers Market is looking forward to another successful year.
The Farmers Market will be held every Saturday until Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Roan Mountain Community Park, which is located just off of Highway 19E behind the Roan Mountain Post Office.
“Last year we had a total of 32 vendors for the whole year and averaged seven to 12 vendors each week,” said Erik Anderson of the Roan Mountain Recreation Foundation. “This year on opening wee we had 12 vendors and a total of 14 have already signed up.”
“We are seeing this thing grow,” he added.
Early turn out for the market was great and Anderson expects the number of vendors will remain high and possibly even grow as the season progresses.
“Up here in the hills we are just now setting out our gardens,” Anderson said.
Because of the elevation and temperature difference in Roan Mountain, gardeners and farmers must follow different planting and harvesting schedules than do their counterparts down below.
The first weeks of the market have featured free range and organic eggs, baked goods, apple butter, homemade crafts, garden plants and early garden harvests such as radishes. Later in the season, probably sometime later this month or into July Anderson estimates, other vegetables will begin showing up at the vendor tables. Corn in Roan Mountain is usually harvested in late August or early September, he said.
“All of our stuff we insist that it be done by local farmers, gardeners and crafters,” Anderson said.
The Farmers Market is a joint project between the Roan Mountain Recreation Foundation and the Future Farmers of America Chapter at Cloudland High School. The students in the FFA program operate the market a Supervised Agricultural Experience, which is one of their requirements for the FFA organization.
“Last year we had about 20 youth who participated in this,” Anderson said.
The market is still accepting signs up for vendors who are interested. There is a one-time registration fee of $15. “There is no weekly fee if you are a registered vendor at our Farmer’s Market and that is a change up from last year,” Anderson said. “We are really doing this as a community service and a way to bring people together.”
Last year, visitors to the market could not only find locally grown and produced items, they could also at times find themselves tapping their toes and singing along to music as a variety of local musicians showed up unannounced at different times throughout the season just to sit and jam and enjoy the day.
“You just never know what you are going to see when you come to the Roan Mountain Farmers Market,” Anderson said.
For more information about the Roan Mountain Farmer’s Market, contact Erik Anderson at 423-772-3010 or just show up on a Saturday at the market.