By Paul Leach
Correspondent
ATHENS, Tenn. – Athens has a brand-new farmers market in the works, set downtown near Veterans Memorial Park.
The Athens Farmers Market will have a pavilion, an amphitheater and restrooms, said Austin Fesmire, director of Parks and Recreation. He also advised that the city plans to build a connecting walkway to Veterans Memorial Park.
Fesmire said the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently helped the city to clear the market’s planned location, which had been prone to flooding. He believes the site has plenty of traffic to support the market, he said.
“Thirty-five thousand cars pass the location every day,” Fesmire said. “Our goal is to have the first phase of construction completed by June 30, 2011.”
McMinn County’s University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Office, which oversees an existing farmers market on state Highway 30 between Athens and Etowah, has been assisting the city with planning the new one.
Tim Woods, director of the county’s UT Agricultural Extension Office, said, “We have been offering advice, but we haven’t determined our role in the new market once it opens.”
The city’s new market schedule has yet to be determined, Woods said. He thought it likely that the same farmers would use market locations.
The project will cost $200,000, but the city only has to pay $50,000. USDA Rural Development will pay $50,000, and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture will grant $100,000 for the market’s pavilion through the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. E-mail him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.