Sanford Farmers' Market kicks off season

Mark Rogers, The Sanford Herald, N.C.
·2 min read

Apr. 23—With dozens of vendors, hundreds of people and even a little bit of live music, the Sanford Farmers' Market kicked off its 2024 season on Saturday.

"We're very thankful for the great crowd," Meredith Favre, Local Foods coordinator at the N.C. Cooperative Extension in Lee County, said. "Our market is bigger and better than ever this year. We're going to have even more vendors next week."

Favre said there were many new additions to the lineup for the 2024 season.

"We've got coffees, mushrooms, seafood — we've expanded the different products we have," she said. "We have lots of returning vendors as well as the new ones. Ever since we opened this morning (Saturday), people have been showing up. We're very thankful."

At one booth, Courtney Garner and her daughter, Ava, 8, were busy using items found at the Habitat For Humanity ReStore to upcycle. Ava, who goes to school at W.B. Wicker Elementary in Sanford, enjoyed putting silk flower arrangements together, showing them off to those who stopped by the Habitat booth.

A giant strawberry greeted visitors and welcomed them to the market. The costumed strawberry was none other than Downtown Sanford Inc. Executive Director Kelli Laudate.

"It's been busy the whole time," she said as she waved to visitors. "This place is hopping."

As shoppers picked out fresh flowers and produce, the sounds of live music echoed through the market, which is held in the parking lot behind the old Buggy Building, off Chatham Street.

"We're the Original Haw River Crawdaddies," "Krawdaddy" John Krall said between tunes. "We play at the Farmers' Market about once a month. It's always a good time. All of our tips go to CORA (the Chatham County food bank). Last year, we gave them around $2,500."

Krall, who plays fiddle, was joined Saturday by "Olde Uncle Edd" Pryor on guitar and vocals and "HammerJohn" Makowski on hammered dulcimer. The group also plays at the Lee County Enrichment Center regularly.

The Sanford Farmers' Market runs each Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until noon.