Farmer’s market will soon feature a pavilion

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Melba Stanley, center, reaches for a pint of strawberries for USDA representative Dewight Stamps as Stanley’s husband, Charles, looks on. (Amy Satterwhite photo)

With a recently hired architect in tow and a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, farmers selling their wares at the farmers’ market won’t have to endure inclement weather much longer.

Organizers pushing for a pavilion for the market are completing steps that would make a covered structure a reality. It is considered as the first major change in terms of new construction involving downtown since Main Street McMinnville was established about three years ago.

Bids for the estimated $95,000 structure will go out in June, and organizers hope to have it ready for operation possibly by the end of this summer, Main Street McMinnville Director Dan Gray said.

“This has been a dream for years,” University of Tennessee extension agent Dale Beaty said during a gathering of dignitaries celebrating a $50,000 USDA grant used to make the building possible. “We can’t get this quickly enough, can we?”

The market is open on Saturdays from April until November and is then expanded to include being open on Wednesdays, which began this Wednesday. It is open from approximately 6 a.m. to noon and brings hundreds of people downtown every year.

“It’s very important to us to keep the farmer’s market downtown,” Gray said. “With our on-going revitalization, the traffic it generates is very important.”

Officials said a covered structure, to be located in the parking lot near the downtown water tower, is something the farmers have wanted for around eight years.

Warren County Agricultural Producers Association President Linwood Michael thanked local leaders for their help and invited the public to the market.

“We’d like to invite everybody up here to help us,” he said. “Visit us and buy and when the pavilion is up, come and see it.”

The 180-by-50-foot structure is expected to accommodate more than 30 vendors and could be easily expanded if necessary.