Carrboro celebrates farmers' market week

Portia McKnight is a co-owner of Chapel Hill Creamery, which became a vendor at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market three years ago.

She said, since then, the creamery has been at the farmers' market 95 percent of the time.

She said the farmers’ market allows shoppers to understand more about their farm and the way they do things as opposed to those buying their cheese at a sales counter.

"Farmers' markets are important because it's a great way to not only show your product to people, but to have people get to know your product and get to know you," she said. "You can really get a better understanding of the people behind the product."

On March 19, Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee declared the first week of April to be Farmers’ Market Week in Carrboro. This year marks the 45th anniversary since the market’s opening in 1979.

To commemorate the 45th anniversary, there will be a main season opening day and birthday party on April 6.

Maggie Funkhouser, the market manager, said the first week of April is an important time to celebrate farmers' market week because it marks the beginning of the market's main season. From now through the fall, the market will be open on an extra weekday — Wednesday, from 3–6 p.m. —along with extended hours on Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon.

"I just really think over the years it’s evolved with the time and also the needs of the community," Foushee said. "That's one thing that I love; they're a very creative farmers’ market and very innovative."

Jeremy Pinkham is the owner of Yee Haw Doughnuts, a vendor at the market. Pinkham said he sees people enthusiastically shopping at the farmers’ market, January through December, every single week.

“Even on the coldest day this winter, we had a great turnout,” he said, “They're not just happy to shop there, they really want to shop there. And I'm fortunate to be a part of it.”

Mayor Foushee’s official proclamation for Farmers’ Market Week highlights community programs such as the Double Bucks program. This is a dollar-for-dollar match program for shoppers using SNAP/EBT benefits as well as North Carolina Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program benefits. This program is available at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market to incentivize shopping locally, Funkhouser said.

John Soehner has been a vendor at Carrboro Farmers’ Market for over 20 years. Soehner owns Eco Farm alongside his wife, Cindy Econopouly. He hopes Farmers’ Market Week will get people more interested to come out to the market.

“I don't sell to one restaurant," he said. "I just sell at farmers’ markets, so they're really important to me."

Rob Segovia-Welsh is a baker and co-owner alongside his wife, Monica, at Chicken Bridge Bakery. A family bakery, they bake out of their own wood-fired oven, selling bread and other pastries to the community. Rob said Farmers’ Market Week is important as it recognizes those farmers and crafts folk that came before to make the market such a dedicated space.

He told a story of a Scandinavian customer who compares the bakeries’ bread to ones that their grandmother used to make, the bread they remember from home and haven’t had in decades. 

“It is pretty exciting — the first few times it happened I was tearing up, they were tearing up,” he said.

@DTHCityState | city@dailytarheel.com