Baskets of vegetables sit on a table at the Melton Family Farms booth during the Downtown Arlington Farmers Market on Oct. 4 at the corner of Front and Center streets. Attendees could also shop for other food products.
After being open for over half a year, the Downtown Arlington Farmers Market continues to serve produce and crafts to Arlington residents every Saturday morning while its operators look to the future.
The land agreement for the market expires after the Nov. 29 market, and the Arlington City Council will vote whether to continue or change the market in the coming months.
According to a market update presentation from a city council meeting, approximately 15,000 people visited the market from March 1 to July 31 and were spending between 15 to 44 minutes visiting.
Garret Martin, Downtown Arlington Management Corp. vice president, said the farmers market has made downtown Arlington even more of an attractive destination for visitors.
“You see more people walking than really ever before on Saturday mornings,” Martin said. “They’re not just visiting the farmers market: They’re visiting more local businesses, they’re visiting the library, they’re pairing their trip with other trips.”
He said if city council does expand the market, the Arlington Downtown Management Corp. would like to see a facility added to house the market.
At the latest market, vendors and residents alike converged at the Front Street parking lot Saturday morning.
Arlington resident Sharron Berry, 78, runs a booth called PB Cottage Bakery with her husband, Paul Berry, and has been participating in the farmers market since late March. She said that it has been a good experience.
Sharon Berry said having a market in Arlington is important because of the variety of goods they offer to community members.
“You can find anything from spice to nuts to bread to vegetables, food trucks; it gives a one-stop shop, like going to Target outdoors,” she said.
Amarillo, Texas, resident Michelle Ellis, 58, center, looks at 3D printed figures at a booth during the Downtown Arlington Farmers Market on Oct. 4 at the corner of Front and Center streets. The market features a variety of handcrafted goods.
Sharron Berry said as long as the market is in Arlington, they will have a booth.
“It gives us a great opportunity to make friends of vendors and have repeat customers, and we like that,” she said.
Flower Mound, Texas, resident Brad Toon, 52, runs the giftedchicken.com booth and has been at the market since the beginning.
Toon said Arlington could be hit or miss with markets, but that this market has had good crowds.
“It seems to be taking off pretty well,” he said.
Sharron Higgins, owner of wild Texas heART, 71, speaks with a customer during the Downtown Arlington Farmers Market on Oct. 4 at the corner of Front and Center streets. Higgins said she has been selling at the market for three weeks.
Attendees, new and old, are also finding things they like about the market.
Arlington resident Rebecca Estrada, 26, visited the market for the first time Saturday and said she didn’t expect it to be as much as it was.
Estrada said her favorite part of the market was seeing the variety of what was being sold, from 3D printing and knit work to hot sauces.
Arlington resident Georgette Limer said she thinks the market makes Arlington a community.
“It brings people together. It gives us an opportunity to display the things that we make and to just kind of go back to the days where you go and buy things from different people,” Limer said.
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