COVER STORY
Farmers Markets Are Blooming From melons to chow chow, there’s something for everyone
By Jessie Gantt-Temple Pulse contributor
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Some folks only want to get their weekly grocery shopping done. Some want to browse local goods made with love, whether digestible or fashionable creations.”
T
HE FARMERS-MARKET MARKET IS INUNDATED. IN my research, I found almost twenty active farmers markets; more are popping up as quickly as this season’s crops. According to the Farmers Markets Coalition, the number of markets has more than doubled over the past decade. I am a first generation farmer who is finding her way between Green Acres and Roseanne. Growing up, I was allowed to drink soda for breakfast only if it was fruit flavored like grape or orange because then, it had fruit in it. But nowadays, I am discovering a healthy balance of slow food for a fast-moving gal’s never-home-on-the-range lifestyle. Incorporating farmers markets is key to getting away from processed bags of tricks and bottles of sugar water. THE WAY WE WERE The Curb Market was not the first farmers market in Chattanooga but it was extremely successful and lasted al-
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most fifty years. The Curb Market started in 1957 and was around until the late 1990’s. The products there were organic before organic was a thing. The police department now occupies the space on 11th St. where The Curb Market was located, but the memories of that market still hold place in the hearts of generations. Those who remember The Curb Market describe it as a wonderful place to get local produce from trusted farmers as well as learn and make friends. Some folks mentioned the regularly occurring characters like Bill Hales from Howard Woods Produce, also known as the “Banana Man”.
Roy Jones of Jones Farm, known to many as the “Strawberry Man” at the Main St. Farmers Market, worked the Curb Market when he was fourteen years old and used to sell melons, corn, and berries. “Farmers would arrive at three in the morning, sleep in their truck, and then start selling when the people showed up,” he recalled fondly. Different people want different things from a farmers market. Some folks only want to get their weekly grocery shopping done. Some want to browse local goods made with love, whether digestible or fashionable creations. There are so many great markets around here that I couldn’t cover them all. I would not be doing my job if I didn’t mention the area’s oldest active farmers market, Sunday Chattanooga Market at First Tennessee Pavilion, which is also the largest market. However, it is a different experience than the smaller food-
