LOCAL NEWS | BUSINESS
BY HOPE THORNTON MARCH 03, 2022
Due to COVID-19 regulations and capacity limitations, opening days at the Athens Farmers Market have been uneventful for the previous two years.
This year will be different.
Bishop Park will be hosting a full-scale venue for AFM on March 5 from 8 a.m. to noon. The market will be celebrating its 15th year of community and fun!
Maya Alandete, the AFM Community Coordinator, said that the market expects to have a lot more people than usual attending this season’s opening event. With less burdens of COVID, she plans to have an exciting day of vendors sharing their locally-grown produce.
“Going to opening day at the farmers market is just like a good way to expose yourself to how cool our food scene is here,” said Alandete, “Absolutely go.”
The AFM has dedicated lots of time and effort into the little things for Saturday’s celebration of gathering the community again. The event will have live music and a childrens booth.
In an effort to provide more members of the Athens community with broader options, there will be a variety of animal products on display at the market. “We are having someone selling lamb . . . We have been incorporating more meat vendors into the market,” said Alandete. The AFM featured a duck meat vendor, Smyly Farms, last season, and this year they have added even more alternatives for attendees.
The Athens Farmers Market has the mentality that healthy, local food should be accessible for everybody. “Recently, I translated our website to Spanish. We added a Spanish page to make it more accessible to people who don’t speak English,” said Alandete. Communication is pivotal in reaching larger audiences for AFM.
The exceptional nonprofit welcomes individuals of all backgrounds to attend the convention on Saturday for fresh produce and to rejoice in community.
Reflection
This press release helped me crawl out of my shell when it came to interviewing. Luckily, Maya was incredibly sweet and welcoming. I loved writing about the Farmers market because it was an event that was new and exciting. I had also never heard of it until I had begun researching it and was excited to try it out myself.
