By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
The Farmers of Orange, one of the groups that petitioned the county to run the farmers’ market at the county’s new Public Market House, has launched a new farmers’ market in the parking lot of University Mall.
The new market, called the South Estes Farmers’ Market, is sponsored by A Southern Season and will be open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. year round. The market held a soft opening on Saturday and will hold a grand opening on May 3.
Jeffry Goodrum, president of the Farmers of Orange board of directors, said the group had been considering different options for a farmers’ market location while waiting for the county’s decision on who would run the market at the Public Market House in Hillsborough.
Last August, two opposing groups appealed to the Board of County Commissioners for control of the Hillsborough Farmers’ Market and later split into the Farmers of Orange and the Hillsborough Farmers’ Market. Both markets asked to administer the farmers’ market at the new Public Market House, but the commissioners expressed aversion to being forced to choose between the two groups and in February decided the county would run the market for an interim period.
Goodrum said his group decided not to sell at the county-run market at the Public Market House.
“Based on how the county indicated they would be managing it and what their plans were for it, it just didn’t seem quite the right fit for us,†he said. “When this opportunity to have a market in association with A Southern Season at University Mall came along, we decided to go with that one.â€
Goodrum said A Southern Season will not be involved in the management of the market, but the market and the gourmet foods store will work together for various events. The store’s cooking school will hold classes in which students will go to the market to select items that they will then take back to the school and use in preparing dishes.
Saturday’s market included about 16 or 17 vendors, but Goodrum said the market will grow to more than 20 soon, adding that the opening, which was not advertised, attracted about 500 customers.
The South Estes Farmers’ Market will only be open on Saturdays, but many of the Farmers of Orange vendors would like to have a Wednesday market as well, Goodrum said.
“We will probably be trying to get a mid-week market established somewhere in the county,†he added.
The South Estes Farmers Market is held near the entrance to A Southern Season at the University Mall on Estes Drive in Chapel Hill.