By Staff
Combining the Farmers’ Market and Saturday Market into a single entity — Saturday Market — is a good move that should help farmers, artisans and efforts to bring more people to downtown Washington.
Downtown Washington on the Waterfront deserves accolades for combining two events that have proven popular in recent years.
The new version of Saturday Market kicks off at April 26. From that point, Saturday Market will be held every Saturday through Oct. 18, with each beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at noon. Saturday Market will be set up at the western end of Stewart Parkway because there is more shade there than at its previous locations elsewhere along Washington’s waterfront.
Saturday Market has grown and changed since DWOW introduced it several years ago. That growth and change has been good for Saturday Market participants, whether they be people who supply the goods being sold or they be people who buy those goods.
The future appears bright for Saturday Market. This year, Saturday Market will have five “trunk shows” during its run from April through October. Each trunk show will have a specific theme. For example, one trunk show will feature football, baseball, soccer and other sports’ items for youth sports. Another will feature boating-related equipment and fishing-related gear.
Sounds like fun. With themes like those, the Saturday Markets with trunk shows should draw even more people to downtown Washington than a regular Saturday Market would draw.
Saturday Market traces it roots back to a farmers-market approach developed about six years ago by Cam and Shirley Padgett of Chocowinity after they visited a similar market in Salem, Ore. The Padgetts served as co-chairmen of the first Saturday Market, which in past years was held on the third Saturday of each month from April through October.
Although Saturday Market is, to some degree, about economic development and tourism, it’s about much more than that. Each Saturday Market provides opportunities for area residents and visitors to socialize, shop and sell. Many older area residents will remember when going to town on Saturday was a big event in their lives.
Saturday Market allows segments of the community to interact in an informal setting. In other words, people get to mix and mingle. Saturday Market allows area artisans to show off their talents. Saturday Market allows farmers to show off their abilities to raise crops and grow flowers. Saturday Market allows folks to mix recreation with commerce. After buying a loaf of homemade bread, a jar of strawberry jam, a pound of vine-ripened tomatoes and a birdhouse for bluebirds, a person may take a leisurely stroll along the Stewart Parkway promenade and waterfront boardwalk.
For those folks who have not visited previous Farmers’ Markets or Saturday Markets, they don’t know what they are missing. For those folks who have shown up at previous Farmers’ Markets or Saturday Markets, expect even more from the 2008 Saturday Market season.
The newfangled Saturday Market promises much. If its track record is any indication, it will deliver the goods.
See you there.