Fayetteville Farmers Market to be honored as America’s Favorite on Saturday
Staff photo
Back in September, the people of America chose the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market as their favorite market. Now it’s time to celebrate.
An award presentation is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 13 at 9 a.m. on the Fayetteville square to honor the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market, the leading vote getter in the large market category of the recent online voting contest sponsored by American Farmland Trust.
During the event, a representative from American Farmland Trust will present a plaque to the Fayetteville market recognizing “the integral role that the market plays in its community” and “the avid support of its customers.”
Other speakers at the award presentation include Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan, Dr. Curt Rome and Professor Marcella Thompson from the University of Arkansas, Jim Lukens of Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, and Zachary Taylor from the Arkansas State Agriculture Department.
To win the award, the Fayetteville market raked in 1,439 votes, nearly 70 percent more than last year’s winner, Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market in Las Cruces, N.M., and almost twice as many as St. Paul Farmers Market, who came in third place this year.
As a result of the honor, the market will also receive a promotional package that includes national press, postcards, totebags, flyers and more.
An award based on an Internet poll with self-selected respondents…
As opposed to polls funded by Monsanto, Sodexho-Marriot, or Wal-Mart, which are the gold standard of public opinion.
Agree with Ryan on this one. A win based on 1,400 votes. Took more than that in high school to pick the prom king and queen.
Congratulations to the Fayetteville Farmers Market and the people who love it enough to bother to vote! The story says the award is in recognition of “the integral role that the market plays in its community” and “the avid support of its customers.” I can’t argue with that, can you?
Jim Lukens and Marcella Thompson certainly deserve to be honored for their roles in creating, sustaining, and growing the Market, and Dr. Rom’s family has a proud and long history of local farming. Mayor Jordan has missed less than a handful of Saturday Markets for the last five years and obviously appreciates what it means to Fayetteville. Let’s give some credit where it’s due, please!
The market was much better 10 years ago, when it was really funky. Now it’s just a place to go and be seen. Our town has lost it’s funk. Sad native.
The farmers market, like the rest of the city, has gone downhill since the days when Dan Coody was our mayor.
Seems like I remember watching a show on CAT where Dan participated in a New Age blessing ceremony for a new water tower or something like that, with sounding mallets, informative narrative by a shaman of some sort, bongos, etc. This was probably around 2005. I think most people forget what a fun, creative, open, intelligent and well-rounded cool mayor we used to have.
I personally have begun to believe that perhaps the change of tone in local politics is not the reason for Fayetteville losing its edge, but the rather a symptom of a changing city. I hope I’m wrong.
Raeching a little, glutenfree? Are you talking about that absurd video of Coody’s virtuoso performance with the musical lollipop? Yeah, that was impressive leadership. To each his own.
Did the former mayor take that one home with him with the rest of his marbles when he lost the last election? By “his marbles” I mean the awards earned by the city during his tenure which he pompously claimed as his own and took with him on his way out of City Hall, of course.
Good veggies, huh Vandalay? Fruit and nuts, too. Great variety and selection of produce, farm fresh eggs and meats, decorative and food producing plants, beautiful pieces of art, skillfull crafts, live music, good friends, gorgeous setting.
Not funky enough for you, Local? Care to specify why?
Good on you, Farmers Market! Most of Fayetteville loves and appreciates you! Thank you!
Not reaching at all. Better a creative, thoughtful mayor than a washed-up union-organizer whose greatest ability lies in holding endless, useless meetings attended by 20-30 professional grievance warriors. Meanwhile, progress in Fayetteville grinds to a halt, except, of course, for the inertia of initiatives and programs started by the previous administration.
I go there to buy vegetables.
This is great news for Fayetteville! I don’t see how getting an award is a bad thing?
Coody supporters always seem to find something negative to say about everything.
Cheer Up Buttercup!
Readers and posters of the Flyer can and will always find a way to complain. Even for an award. I stopped being surprised a long time ago.
KC market is way better.
Coody thought these meetings were so good that he imitated Mayor Jordan and held one himself. I’m glad Mayor Jordan goes out of his way to listen to the public.
Something to think about… 92% of incumbents win re-election. Coody was part of the 8%. What does that tell you?
I know,I know, we’re all nimbys right?
Jordan owes his election to the strange endorsement by Steve Clark more than anything. Most of Clark’s voters were the pro-business crowd who thought Fayetteville needed a change. On the other hand, most of the Jordan crowd criticized Dan for his willingness to work with the private sector to improve the city, and even characterized it as some kind of self-interested, uber-capitalism. Jordan and Clark were the most different candidates last time around, which really makes the Clark endorsement seem odd.
There hasn’t been a Town Hall meeting attended by more than maybe 50 people under Jordan. The typical meeting has 20-30 people in attendance. Contrary to popular union-myth, the average citizen isn’t angry or an axe-grinder. We are a city of nearly 80,000 people. That calls for capable leadership, not small-town politics.
Jordan makes a big show, but he really doesn’t listen to the public more than any other politician. The parking garage plan is a prime example.
The fact that the city has created a schedule for developing a parking garage does not mean that Mr. Jordan does not listen to the people. The city has not yet determined a location or design scheme for a parking garage– which appears to be the real issue here, as the hydroambulating Mr. Coody himself says we need a parking garage. Indeed, the city has already pushed back the schedule for developing a parking garage, and public opinion might have something to do with that.
Perhaps a better prime example is the way the city responded almost immediately to complaints about the parking around Dickson Street by changing the fee structure and schedule. Of course, this made the system a little more complicated, which allows Mr. Coody and others who don’t remember this bit of history to hyperventilate about how complicated the system is.
Mayor Jordan’s last town hall meeting had an attendance of over 200 citizens. If you don’t attend and make your voice heard then don’t complain.
Yeah, even the only-shows-up-in-election-years former mayor showed up to that last Town Hall. First time in four years he bothered, concerned citizen and superior intellect that he claims to be. He sure likes to back people against the wall at the Saturday Market in election years, though. Is that the funk y’all are missing in the off-election years? Fresh air and respect of personal space are refreshing in my book. Looking forward to post-election return to that.
glutenfree, can you get over 2008 for your own good? The Farmers Market offers an abundance of fiber-rich foods, maybe you should give them a try and see if you can let things pass.
I want Fayetteville to be progressive and continue to be a leader in sustainability and creativity. Its really that simple. If Fayetteville chooses mediocrity over those principles, then its everybody’s loss. I actually did not support Dan Coody strongly last time around, and I can’t honestly remember if I voted for or against him. But it became clear to me very soon after that we messed up. A city gets the leadership it deserves.
Furthermore, I remember thinking Matt Petty was a “kid”, idealistic, and with his head in the clouds. I am pretty sure I didn’t vote for him. I’ve changed my mind after seeing him be so pro-active and thoughtful, and now he has my full support.
I bestow this award upon the Fayetteville Flyer — for alerting the highest amount of people of the existence of the vote. And to be fair, the first line of the article should probably say “The people of Fayetteville chose the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market as their favorite” because that really seems to be the nature of this vote. So I like to think of it as an award for which community loves their farmer’s market the most, not which community has the best farmer’s market.
Amazing that a community supporting its Farmers Market should somehow be perceived as a negative. Get over it guys. As to the Farmers Market no longer being funky? You can’t actually go to the Farmer’s Market and make that claim with the mix of great food, politics, belly dancers, jugglers, musicians, and shelter pets for adoption. If you have to try that hard to spin such a positive aspect of Fayetteville as a negative, things are looking good for Jordan. Those of you who think nothing good has happened since Dan left have been sleeping.
Poking at the obvious flaws of a competition is nowhere near the same thing as being negative about Fayetteville. Like I said it’s obviously a “which community loves their farmer’s market the most” competition, or I guess more accurately, “which community that knew about the competition loves their farmers market the most.” That’s not a bad thing and it doesn’t make Fayetteville any less awesome.
But I definitely agree that the people actually criticizing our market or changing the topic to politics are being pretty lame.
“The market was much better 10 years ago, when it was really funky. Now it’s just a place to go and be seen.”
And the Fayetteville Flyer was more enjoyable a few years ago when jerk-offs didn’t hijack every thread to spew their political propaganda and put a negative spin on every piece of positive news. But you know what? I still visit the Flyer because it is the best local news source available and is run by some bad-A dudes.
Same thing w/ the Farmers’ Market. Maybe popularity takes some of the funk out of it, but it is still completely awesome. So snub your nose and stay home. I’ll continue to go to buy whatever and (oh the humanity) socialize as well. I love the Farmers’ Market! And I bet the farmers don’t care if someone is there to be seen as long as they occasionaly buy something.
PS – “KC market is way better.” Congratulations. In a sea of ignorance your comment manages to stand out in the crowd. Impressive.
I likes tomaters… That’s why I goes there.