People turn out for downtown Dothan farmer’s market

Teresa Davis hoped to pick up a watermelon Saturday, but instead she went home with an unexpected broccoli.

Davis, of Webb, also took home some squash and potatoes when she attended the Poplar Head Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning in downtown Dothan.

“I thought it was great. Everything looked fresh. I got some broccoli, which I didn’t expect to find,” Davis said. “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you about my big bag of peaches. They smelled so good.”

Julie Bishop, the Poplar Head Farmer’s Market director, called the first-time downtown event an overwhelming success. The market offered a variety of agriculture products for sale from blueberries and blackberries, goat cheese and soap, to flowers, zucchini, onions, corn, spinach, corn, herbs and steak. Bishop said even two area businesses fared at the market as Mildred’s Tea Room sold cookies and sweets and the Blue Moon cafe sold sandwiches. 

“We wanted everybody to have a lazy Saturday morning strolling through the vegetable and herbs,” Bishop said. “Our vendors began selling out, some of them 30 minutes after they opened.”

David Bell of Bell Farms sold out of corn even after making a trip back to the farm for a second load to sell. Bell estimated nearly 1,000 people attended the four-hour event.

“It’s one of the largest crowds I’ve ever seen at a first time market,” Bell said.

Charisse Snell of Snell Farms in Skipperville sold a variety of items herself at her booth, ranging from squash to tomatoes, to Poblano peppers, waxed beans and boiled peanuts, among others.

“We’ll be here every Saturday,” Snell said, who planned to bring fresh watermelon and cantaloupe with her next week.

Snell said she liked the variety of vendors at the market, along with all the educational activities for children.

“It reminds me almost of a Montgomery or Birmingham market, you know, just how it’s presented,” Snell said.

During one of those activities four teenage girls wore bumble bee outfits with wings and antenna as part of a presentation on the life cycle of a bee.

Gary Carter III made a small bee from a piece of recycled egg carton at the farmer’s market. Bishop said each Saturday during the summer farmer’s market the Wiregrass Museum of Art will have agriculture-based crafts for children each morning.

“It’s cool because of the neat things they can do with pieces of paper,” Carter said, who attended the market with his mother, Gayle Carter, and his stepsister, Amy Knowles.

Eric Toole of Nubbin Valley Farms in Graceville, Fla., who also serves as the farmer’s market manager in Marianna, Fla., sold a variety of vegetables Saturday, including what he referred to as hot weather broccoli.

“So far the hotter it has got, the better it has looked,” Toole said of his broccoli. “I know we’ll be coming back. It seems to be a good atmosphere, and the people are friendly.”