Farmers Market set for third year

The Marshall County Farmers Market is now in its third year of operation in Rock Creek Park. Area farmers offer a variety of fruits and vegetables for sale each Friday till noon, including some of the best home-grown tomatoes to be had anywhere. Tom Blalock, one of the original three farmers to sell the fruits of their labor at the Farmers Market, said, 'Be sure my hat gets in the picture!'

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Staff Writer

This is the third season for the Farmers Market to be in the building at Rock Creek Park.

It is open every Friday from 6 a.m. until noon, and Vickie Wilburn says when the vendors show up, there are always customers already waiting on them.

She, Tommy Woodard and Tom Blalock have been selling at the Farmers Market every year since it started.

Last year was a bad year because of the drought, plus Wilburn thinks a lot of people didn't know the market was open. She says this year announcements on the radio have helped get the word out.

Wilburn works part-time at the Marshall Farmers Cooperative and is helped out at the market by her neighbor, William Haley, 14. Haley has his own chickens and goats as well as a garden.

He's home-schooled, but his mother plans to put him back to work next week along with the rest of the children in Marshall County.

Because the Farmers Market building received Federal funding, there are restrictions on what can be sold there: no home-made baked or canned goods unless the kitchen has passed inspection, for instance.