The third season of the Starkville Community Market is set to kick off this weekend at the corner of Jackson and Lampkin streets.
The market will open Saturday at 8 a.m. and run until 11 a.m.
More than 20 vendors, selling everything from locally grown fruits and vegetables to arts, crafts and baked goods, will occupy the lot.
The property, located next to Boardtown Trading Post, has been vacant since several buildings were razed there in 1994, but efforts by incoming Starkville Area Arts Council President Dylan Karges and a host of other volunteers over the past three months have transformed the lot.
A 20-by-20 foot pavilion, donated by Gulf States Manufacturers, now stands on the site, along with a retaining wall, handrails and a sign proclaiming the lot as the new home of the Starkville Community Market. Gardens, sculpture and additional landscaping also is planned on the property, among other improvements.
“We have a lot more to do, but we”re still opening (Saturday),” Karges said this morning. “We”ll probably have to block off some of the space where the handrails aren”t finished being installed yet, but I think it should be a nice day to open. I think everything is lining up to be a very successful year.”
Karges has worked at the site nearly every day for weeks, but has been assisted by Mississippi State University students, Gulf States employees and other community volunteers.
Tammy Tyndall Carlisle, who founded the Starkville Community Market in 2008 with Jeremiah Dumas, now serves on the market”s board of directors and was thrilled to see the community rally to improve the new site.
“I”m excited to see (the market) has grown into something that is so beneficial for the community,” Carlisle said. “It”s nice to see so many people volunteering, from shoveling dirt to rallying vendors to helping spread the word. I think it”s a great thing. It”s truly a community market. This community has really come together to support this.”
East Mississippi Lumber Company owns the property. President Andy Gaston is allowing the market to occupy the site until the company finds another use for the property.
The market, which is now being run by the Gaining Ground Sustainability Institute of Mississippi, was located on South Lafayette Street in 2008 and 2009, about a block from the new location. Business owners, however, complained the market forced the closure of South Lafayette between Main Street and Lampkin Street every Saturday morning and negatively impacted their sales.
Dumas, who serves as Ward 5 alderman, is excited about the new location.
“I think the move is great,” Dumas said. “When you look at that location in town and you look at what it”s done for that corner, and you look at the hard work of Dylan and (wife) Allison Karges from the market side and the stuff Gulf States has done, and Andy Gaston letting us use the site, I just think it”s great.”
The Starkville Community Market will run every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Along with vendors, the site will play host to live music, children”s activities, cook-offs and other events on market days.
Halloween weekend is the tentative closing date, Dylan Karges said.
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