Farmers cultivate

new market in Boone
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

A new farmers’ market is blossoming in Boone.

A local group is organizing as the High Country Farmers’ Market and plans to augment the existing Watauga County Farmers Market rather than compete with it. The new market asked the Watauga County commissioners for permission to use the parking lot at the Human Services Center in Boone and currently plans to hold a Sunday market only.

Bill Moretz, local tree grower and gardener who approached the commissioners about the site, said the group is still in the planning stages but hopes to have 12 to 20 participants. The market wants to focus on local produce, with the requirement that at least 50 percent of the members are selling locally grown goods.

Anyone selling crafts will be required to use all-natural native materials to keep the emphasis on agriculture.

Moretz said the idea had been kicked around for a couple of years, and the group wanted a different day than the traditional Saturdays and seasonal Wednesdays at the Horn in the West grounds in Boone. Because of Appalachian State University football crowds and student traffic, the Watauga County Farmers Market site at Horn in the West is often crowded.

“This is a little bit of a different focus,” Moretz said, though he added some vendors would likely sell in both farmers’ markets. “Some people won’t go to the other one because of parking and there’s room here for another market.

“Asheville, which is three times the size of Boone, has seven or eight markets.”

The commissioners by consensus agreed to provide the site, though restroom access is an issue to be addressed. Portable toilets may be used if local public buildings can’t be secured during the Sunday markets.

Moretz anticipates the market opening in May or June and said the group is also looking for those who make value-added products like jams and jellies in addition to baked goods.

The annual meeting of the Watauga County Farmers Market will take place Monday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at the Watauga County Agricultural Conference Center. The meeting’s agenda will include an update from the farmers market board, a review of rules and policies, a discussion of the year ahead, and elections for the open officers’ and board members’ seats.

All current and potential market vendors are invited to attend, although only members can vote.

For more information, call Richard Boylan at the Watauga County Center of N.C. Cooperative Extension at (828) 264-3061 or Watauga County Farmers’ Market manager Karen Bauman at (828) 297-1914.

For more information on the High Country Farmers’ Market, call Bill Moretz at (828) 264-3424.