Alexander Cain
Larry and Debbie Houston brought more than 400 pounds of tomatoes to Milledgeville Marketplace prior to the market’s 4 p.m. Tuesday opening.
By 6:15 p.m., Houston was already packing up to leave, having sold every single tomato he had on sale for the day.
“We went through and picked 400 pounds of tomatoes this morning, and I had picked 1,500 pounds since Monday one week ago, and all of my red, ripe tomatoes and 24 cantaloupes sold out. The cantaloupes sold out within the first hour and a half,” Houston said. “It’s great, there was a tremendous turnout for such a short period of time.”
Houston’s story isn’t unusual — since its start last month, each Tuesday the Milledgeville Marketplace has been held, vendors have reported strong sales and even a full inventory brought to the event sold out before the day’s end.
“We’ve run out of vegetables both times we’ve been here, and today we’ve had baked goods as well,” Etta Bentley with Bentley’s Backyard Garden out of Milledgeville and McIntyre said.
Bentley brought Brooke Bentley and Caitlin Mitchell to help run her stand — and the baked goods they presented were also popular among passersby.
“We also always sell our famous chicken and rib rubs. The times that we’re here just depend on how well the garden is going, but it’s been going well,” Bentley said.
The marketplace became a reality in May after months of preparation and precision planning from local resident Nathalie Goodrich, Milledgeville MainStreet Director Belinda Washlesky, MainStreet Board Chairman Justin Jones, local resident Heather Langston and farming enthusiast and volunteer market manager Curtis Yaun.
The idea of a farmer’s market in Milledgeville had been discussed since last summer, but only at the beginning of this year were market planners and the city able to reach agreements on location, time and logistics.
“This is our fifth week, and our first two weeks had about 250 people to attend on average,” Washlesky, whose Milledgeville MainStreet office oversees the marketplace, said. “We had 698 people our third week. It was crazy. We even ran out of parking.”
Parking has been a slight issue for the event — the location is limited to a small area — but Washlesky admits that even with such potential problems, the success speaks for itself.
“I spoke with one vendor who said our market was the best that they attend, and they go to others such as one in Stone Mountain,” Washlesky said. “I talked to each of our vendors Tuesday and all of them said that they loved the time slot and location. They get the workers, the students, the retirees and the drive-by traffic — pretty much everyone.”
Though arts and crafts are a part of the weekly marketplace, which will run through October, items such as fruits, vegetables, plants and homemade foods tend to “go over much better than others.”
“People need to eat,” Washlesky joked.
Laverne, Martha and Ramon Howard with Howard Family Farms out of Monticello know how well food items and vegetables go over — the Howards had almost an entire supply of lemonade with fruit sold by 6:30 p.m., having set up before the 4 p.m. start time.
“It’s going pretty good. People who come to the marketplace are buying the lemonade,” Ramon Howard said.
“We also came the second week and sales have been pretty good. We’re selling for about $2 a pound, on average. People buy both our fried pies and vegetables,” Laverne Howard said. “We also go to a farmer’s market in Monticello on Saturdays, and this one [Milledgeville] might be a little better than theirs because there seems to be more traffic. We do good here and we do good there, too.”
The Milledgeville Marketplace is located next door to the Golden Pantry convenience store on Hancock Street each Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m.
The Marketplace is scheduled to be held through October, rain or shine.
For more information, call (478) 414-4014.
