VALDOSTA —
South Georgia residents could not have asked for better weather Saturday morning to kick off the return of the Downtown Valdosta Farm Days on the courthouse square.
The sun was shining and the air was cool as local farmers and artisans developed relationships with potential customers. Along with fresh produce, vendors brought plants, flowers, food items, homemade crafts, organic meats and cheeses, honey, local olive oil and more to sell in the open market atmosphere.
Local resident Phyllis Kassum was walking her beagle-hound mix Jackson while she shopped. Kassum said she has plenty of produce growing in her garden at home, but she tries to make it out each Saturday for the Farm Days event to supplement her diet.
“You get to meet the people who actually planted the produce and nurtured those plants and you can develop a relationship with them,” said Kassum. “It’s not shipped from far-off places. I’m very concerned about where my food comes from, what’s in it and how it was produced.”
Another group of couples echoed Kassum’s comments. They come out to have fun, but also because they care about what goes into their diets. After shopping a bit around the Historic Lowndes County Courthouse in the morning, they planned on stopping by Farmer Brown’s and Carter & Sons for more fresh produce.
“It’s been an awesome event,” said Valdosta Mainstreet director Amanda Peacock. “We had a great community response last year with people who came out and shopped but also people who came out and supported our local downtown businesses.”
Farm Days started a month early this year
and will also last an extra month, from April to October.
“The vendors out here are all good southern people and they’ll have conversations with anyone about their goods,” said Peacock. “There wasn’t anywhere people could just pull their trucks up and sell their goods.”
Director of Lowndes County Partnership for Health John Sparks say people will be able to use EBT cards for their purchases soon. He hopes the system will be ready by May.
The event is scheduled for every first and third Saturday through October from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., except the first Saturday in August.
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A local resident admires a trailer-load of marigolds Saturday at Farm Days in Valdosta. David Rodock
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Farm Days returns to Valdosta
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