Management Changes At Decatur Farmers Market

The twice-a-week Decatur Farmers Market is under new management.

Community Farmers Market, which runs the markets in Grant Park and East Atlanta Village, took over last weekend, Atlanta magazine reported.

The Atlanta magazine article said,

New vendors have already started coming to the market, and today their ranks continue to grow. In addition to loyal, long-time vendors such as Greenleaf Farms, Zocalo Salsas, Stone Mountain Herbs, and Besmaid Garden Essentials, today you’ll find Laughing Rabbit Farm, Mountain Earth Farm, Watsonia Farms, S & J Wood-fired Pizza, Doggy Dogg ATL, and King of Pops. On Saturdays, all the new farms will be back, plus Scharko Farms.

“There will be more vendors coming, especially at the Saturday market,” says Katie Hayes, director of Community Farmers Markets and acting market manager. “The No. 1 thing we wanted to do was get more farmers.” Also scheduled for upcoming Saturday markets: coffee. It’s not grown locally, but it is roasted locally, and it sure makes an early morning shopping trip more pleasant.

Greg and Nicole Coleson started the Decatur Farmers Market in 2002 and had been running it with the help of part-time employees and volunteers.

A previous article in Patch reported there's an agreement with the city for the market to move to the courtyard of the Beacon Hill municipal complex, which is undergoing renovation.

Renovation work at the complex is expected to be finished in about a year.

Meanwhile, the Decatur Farmers Market operates 4-7 p.m. Wednesdays at the Bank of America parking lot at Church Street and Commerce Drive and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at West Trinity Place and McDonough Street, near Decatur High School.