Farmers Market a hometown tradition

The Jackson County Farmers Market is a year-round market and features only locally grown produce, herbal products, and crafts. Many of its growers use organic practices. Please feel free to ask them questions about their growing practices.

The market is located in downtown Sylva in Bridge Park’s parking lot Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. until noon from April through October, then Saturday mornings in November through March from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. There is plenty of parking off of Railroad Ave in the gravel lot.

Jackson County Farmers Market’s mission is to provide a safe, pleasant and educational venue for residents and visitors to access locally grown and produced food products, handicrafts and artwork that showcase our region’s unique culture and history, to foster economic opportunity for our vendors and to collaborate with other public and private organizations to promote greater understanding of food and health issues through information, resources and demonstrations.

The market started in September 2000 at the location where the market currently resides in downtown Sylva off of Back St (Mill Street). In the beginning 5 years, the number of vendors averaged between 5 and 10 booths. In the beginning years, there were no guidelines but the prevalent rule was that you only sold what you grew. By 2011, the average number of vendors was between 20-32 vendors depending on the month. The Jackson County Farmers Market was incorpo- rated in late 2012.

The Farmers Market is located at the Bridge Park, which is at 110 Railroad Avenue, in Sylva, NC. Hours are Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. For more info, e-mail jacksoncountyfarmersmarket@gmail.com.