FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Fayetteville Farmer's Market has been known as the "crown jewel of Fayetteville" and voted one of America's Favorite Farmers Markets. The organization celebrated its 50th anniversary on Saturday, June 17 with food, a proclamation, and a ceremony.
On a summer Saturday in the Fayetteville Town Square, you can find the music of local performers, the laughter of children playing, and farmers striking a friendly conversation.
“If this were a dance concert, we have a whole lot fewer people here, but it's a farmers market, it just cuts through so many layers,” member Mark Cain said. “It's kind of a continuum, I have to say that there are elements of it that are exactly the same as when I first started.”
Cain came from Mississippi with just a load of watermelons and a card table stand for the market. He's now the longest-active member of the market.
“We had a winning formula to start with back even back when we started in 1984. I had hair back then that was a long time ago,” Cain said of the market.
The market didn’t start as a fully arranged masterpiece. When Marcella Thompson first started the market in 1974, it was just improv.
“We had not much of anything to sell, but people came out of curiosity,” Thompson said.
Thompson, one of the founding members of the market, said insurance agent, Wilbur Watson played an instrumental part in gathering farmers. He put five dollars on her desk to pay the membership fee and told her, "If you're gonna have a farmers market, you really need some farmers." That's when Watson became the first market manager.
"Legend has it, that he didn't ask them if they want to join the market. He just told them what they were going to bring to market and how much to expand their gardens," Thompson said.
Cain still credits Thompson for the market success, having composed the bylaws at its founding. He says things like a point system for farmers, the farmers' market board, and the market's self-sustenance helped make it so successful. Farmers markets like Springdale, Eureka Springs, and Bentonville have followed in their organization's footsteps imitating some of their bylaws.
"She's very, very self-effacing about her role in this. But it's true, they did something really great," Cain said of Thompson.
As a good tune lands itself on the top charts for the classic keeps, people dancing decades later, the Fayetteville Farmers Market still has many people dancing to its founding members' melody.
"It's like a party for all of us," Cain said.
"The heart and soul of this market is our farmers, our artisans, and our customers," Thompson said.
The Fayetteville Farmers Market is open year-round. You can visit their website to find out how to participate in their square market or online market.
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