Staff Photo Nick Brothers
Teresa Maurer, vendor coordinator for the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market, stands outside the new indoor location for the market at 612 S. College Ave. The building is next to the Fayetteville Adult and Community Education Center.
The Fayetteville Farmer’s Market is moving to a new indoor location on Saturdays during the winter months at Jefferson Center at 612 S College Ave., at the intersection of College and Martin Luther King Blvd.
For the first time in its more than 40-year lifespan, the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market will use what used to be unused classrooms from the old Jefferson Elementary School as a regular indoor space on Saturdays from Dec. 6 to Dec. 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and from Jan. 3 to March 28 from 10.am. to 2 p.m. There will not be a market on Dec. 27.
Vendors will be set up throughout four classrooms, with about 800 square feet per room for displays.
“We started this incredible search,” said Teresa Maurer, vendor coordinator for the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market. “We looked at about 12 different locations, and this one really worked out the best.”
Until 2012, the Farmer’s Market had a single holiday market at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. Organizers used a tent to house the vendors. About a year ago, ice and snow from winter storms destroyed the tent. After reassessing their options, they decided to pursue an indoor venue. After working with the Fayetteville school district, they were able to get the auxiliary classroom space behind the Jefferson Center Adult Education School.
“We just said, y’know, let’s look for a place that’s closer to downtown,” Maurer said. “This isn’t exactly the square, but hey, it’s just minutes away. I’m just delighted the school district was willing to come up with a memorandum of understanding.”
There will be a special holiday market in the new building during the month of December. The holiday markets are to feature 40 different displays by vendors that will feature locally grown products throughout Northwest Arkansas. It should be pretty festive, Maurer said.
Staff Photo Nick Brothers
Teresa Maurer measures space for future farmer’s market vendors in one of the classrooms inside the new indoor location.
Some of the products for sale are to include handcrafted gift items, artwork, wreaths, baked goods and candy. There will also be the usual meats, cheeses, eggs, honey, apples, sweet potatoes, late fall vegetables, jams, other locally made jarred goods, and wood for Yuletide fires, among other things.
Parking will be available around the Jefferson Center, as well as a paved parking lot directly across from the building. Market goers should use the crosswalk at the College and Martin Luther King Blvd. intersection to cross the road safely, Maurer said.
Because it is in an indoor location, market goers are asked to leave their pets at home. As far as the entertainers that come out to the Farmer’s Market, Maurer said she’s still figuring out what will work best.
The market will return to the downtown Fayetteville square in April, weather permitting.
