Jackson farmers market moving to more shaded area

Jackson City Park will be the new permanent location of the twice-weekly Jackson farmers market beginning July 26. For the past three years, the market has been on Barton Street in uptown Jackson. Organizers say a need for more parking, shade and room for more vendors is prompting the move.

Grant Gillard, an organizer who sells honey at the market, said Jackson's Community Outreach Board did a marvelous job of getting the market off the ground since it began on the square, but the market is growing and is now incorporated independently from the city.

Organizers have been planning the move since the beginning of the year. Gillard said the problems this year with space and traffic have been greater.

"Blocking off the street does cause some problems as we are trying to move in and the court is trying to move out," Gillard said of the market held Tuesday.

"I think this year, as the market has grown, it's time to make a move to a place that is more conducive," he said.

The market's new location in the parking lot of the band shell off Independence Street will be shady, grassy and give the ambience of a farm, Gillard said. The market now has around 30 vendors selling produce, baked goods, handmade items and flowers.

The times the market is held will remain from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

The Saturday market is currently held at the First Presbyterian Church in Jackson but will also be moved to the park.

Michelle Chesser has been selling homegrown produce on Tuesdays at the market since last summer. She uses the market as a way to teach her 10-year-old twin daughters and her sons, 12 and 13, about responsibility and earning money.

Chesser said she hopes the new location in the park will make shoppers linger because of the availability of the park's shady areas and amenities like playgrounds and the pool. She said she also thinks the park will work out well for bringing in new shoppers because of nearby schools and athletic fields.

"It may be a little rocky at first, but I'm counting on when school gets back in that it will pick up," she said.

eragan@semissourian.com

243-6635

Pertinent addresses:

Barton Street, Jackson, MO

Jackson City Park, Jackson, MO