Farmers’ Market returns to Bill Woods Park

Following a one-year absence, the Whitley County Farmer’s Market returned to Bill Woods Park in downtown Williamsburg Thursday evening.

This year the farmers’ market will be held in downtown Williamsburg from 5 – 8 p.m. each Thursday in Bill Woods Park through the season, which usually ends some time in October. It will also be held every Tuesday at NIBROC Park in Corbin from 5 – 8 p.m.

Last year, the Whitley County Farmers’ Market decreased from three times weekly at locations in Corbin, downtown Williamsburg, and at the Whitley County Cooperative Extension Office in Goldbug to twice a week. It drop downtown Williamsburg as a location and moved the Goldbug farmers’ market from Saturday to Thursday.

The hope was that this would result in more vendors overall since it would free up local farmers to take their crops to larger markets on Saturdays at such places as Lexington, Knoxville or Richmond, but that didn’t work out.

Andrew Modica, market manager for the Whitley County Farmers’ Market, said the decision to move the farmers’ market back to Bill Woods Park this year was made in part to get more vendors.

When the farmers’ market moved to the extension office in Goldbug last year, it lost several vendors.

“If you don’t have the vendors, you are not going to have the customers. Hopefully it will all pan out,” Modica said. “We didn’t have a lot of vendors last year. Actually we have a record number of vendors signed up this year. Of course all of them don’t come to the market each week, but I think last year we had 16 vendors signed up. This year we have 30 right now. It is a record. It is almost double that of last year.”

Modica noted that the farmer’s market features all kinds of vendors from people with jams and jellies to those selling fruits, vegetables, soap and crafts.

Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said that he is glad to have the farmers market back in downtown Williamsburg.

“I am really tickled to death that they are back down here,” Harrison noted.