sharing and community. This photo was from the 2024 opening.
By Stephen Smoot
In the past few years, residents and visitors alike have more and more often made a summertime Saturday morning stop in Franklin for fresh food a must-do.
After a seasonal hiatus, the market will open once again in June. It will feature established favorites and new entrepreneurs alike amongst its vendors.
“We’ve determined that the starting date for this year’s market will be June 14,” announced Annie Humes, director of the market.
She explained that the successful format established in previous years will remain in place. Humes uses the market to encourage both hobbyists and fledgling entrepreneurs to sell their wares and grow their businesses.
They sell alongside farmers and producers who have successfully sold for years, creating a mutually encouraging community of vendors.
A prime example of cooperation comes from an emerging mentorship between local bakers.
Roxanne Arbaugh, owner of Bettye’s Backroad Breads, sells a broad spectrum of sourdough bread products from loaves and muffins to tortillas. “I love the community market,” she explained, adding that “you don’t have the same people every week.”
“Roxanne Arbaugh was at the farmers market last year,” Humes said, adding that the venue “was a real launch pad for what became a year-round business for her.”
Arbaugh started working closely with Beth Kirk, who founded Sweet Treats last October. Both ladies bake with health in mind. Arbaugh’s sourdough products have a much better effect on blood sugar with diabetics, while Kirk produces a variety of gluten-free baked goods.
Approximately two million people, or one in every 133, cannot consume gluten due to celiac disease.
Kirk got into business because “my children both moved away. I had a lot of free time.” She said of local vendors and the farmers market that “it’s a great community of supporters.”
She happily explained earlier this month that “I just went to the first farmers market meeting on Wednesday. I got all the information.” Kirk plans, like Arbaugh, to offer a number of varieties of her products to meet as many different tastes as is possible.
Humes shared that she sees the market as “an incubator opportunity for folks who are looking to sell something they already made for sale.”
Vendors can come in person or sell on consignment. Consignment sales incurred much more time and hassle before Humes and the farmers market secured a grant for a modern point of sale system that kept accurate records automatically.
The ideal of creating community also serves as a key part of the vision. The farmers market often schedules presentations, events for children, and even live music, serving as not just a selling place, but “a gathering place,” as Humes says.
In this way, it mimics the markets of bygone days where people would come to socialize and catch up on community news as much as buy.
Humes added that the farmers market also serves as a magnet for tourists hungry to sample locally made foods and other products.
