Farmers Market opening Saturday

The Farmer’s Market is coming back.

Fifty-five vendors will be in place and prepared to sell their goods on Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., beginning this week, at the Market on Madison. Vendors will set up in the market area and out on the lawn under pop-up tents.

Downtown Development Authority operations manager and market manager Nichole Padgett talked about the Farmers Market during an official market kickoff meeting with the vendors last week. Padgett said  63 people attended.

“We are excited about the start of the season,” Padgett said. “I believe I have about 15 new vendors. Anyone can qualify to come to the market if they meet the qualifications of homemade and homegrown. The majority of the vendors right now will be selling baked goods or produce.” 

One important detail Padgett brought up was the Farmers Market does accept EBT.

“We match up to $50 on EBT,” she said. “That is very important.” 

They also have a token system. 

“A lot of people do not realize that we have that,” Padgett said. “If you do not have cash, there are no worries. They can scan their debit or credit cards, and we’ll give you tokens.”  

The Farmers Market will run through Oct. 11. There will be a calendar of events with a theme for each week at the Farmers Market. 

In other meeting news, the DDA: 

– Heard from about a Start Smart Summit, which they are copying from the Perry Main Street.

“It is something for people who are interested in businesses,” said DDA Executive Director Glenda Berry.

“We are trying to come up with something that we can do to bring people in who might be interested in opening a business in downtown Dublin. We’d have special speakers, and the board is interested in doing that.” 

– Heard about First Friday that will start this week. This free event will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Market on Madison and run through October. The following bands are scheduled to perform: Soul Shine Band (April 3); 8-Track Flashback (May 1); Hillcrest & Lillie Brown (June 5); GunShy (Aug. 7); Restless Natives (Sept. 4); and Dean Brown & DubShak (Oct. 2).

“We will have some new talent this year for First Friday,” Berry said. 

– Heard about the Forever Young – an ’80s tribute band, that will perform at 7 p.m. April 11 at Theatre Dublin.

– Received information about Dublin Community Theatre’s production of “Annie,” which will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25. There will also be a 2 p.m. show on Saturday, April 25.

– Discussed the annual Crawfish Festival scheduled for Saturday, May 16.

“We’ve got new bands coming for Crawfish,” Berry said. “We have a lot of events and activities.”