Starkville Community Market organizers say they’re hopeful to see the event, which is now under the Greater Starkville Development Partnership’s third year of control, continue growing at its new Fire Station No. 1 park location this year.
Market season begins May 2, and vendor applications and SCM rules are available at the Partnership’s Main Street location and online at visit.starkville.org/market.
SCM attendance, sales and vendor statistics have grown since the Partnership took over the event’s 2013 run. Last year, the event almost doubled its amount of vendors and maintained about $4,000 in business per week, said Jennifer Prather, the Partnership’s special events coordinator and market manager. About 800 to 1,000 people visited its former location, she said, at the corner of Lampkin and Jackson streets.
This winter, the GSDP and board of aldermen reached a mutual agreement to house the market – its large-scale Saturday staple and Tuesday’s midweek offering – at the fire station, which gives the Partnership a permanent home for the event in a growing business corridor.
The move gives the ever-expanding market more physical capacity and allows the Partnership to further invest in its operation with grant funding. Expansions, Prather said, could provide diversifications in terms of products, including refrigerated options for dairy and meat.
The fire station’s location itself at the intersection of Russell and Lampkin streets is also expected to draw more visitors than the market’s former home. The Russell Street corridor is already experiencing numerous retail development projects, and Lampkin Street is a primary feeder connection into downtown Starkville.
A future infrastructure project will improve pedestrian connectivity along Russell Street to its Lampkin Street intersection, pairing downtown and Cotton District routes.
“The visibility of that location will help out a lot,” Prather said. “We pinpointed that location because it’s a central hub of the downtown. It’s the core of what is going to be a high-traffic area filled with future growth.”
Businesses within the Russell Street corridor previously submitted letters backing the market’s move to the fire station park and offered nearby parking spaces for future patrons.
In addition to those lots, visitors can also utilize University Drive parking spaces that lead to a new sidewalk connecting the heavily used thoroughfare and Lampkin Street.
This year’s market will run through August and could continue based upon supply and demand.
Saturday’s event lasts from 7:30-10:30 a.m., while Tuesday’s midweek offering runs 4-6 p.m.
SCM received Mississippi Magazine’s Best Farmer’s Market designation last year, and the publication also recognized the Partnership for its wayfinding signage.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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